


The Perks of Being an Omega

by indirectHonesty



Category: Homestuck
Genre: A/B/O, Accidental Self-Harm, Alpha Striders, Bathroom Make-Outs, Karkat is a grumpy bartender, M/M, Questionable Consent, casey is mentioned, cutie patootie casey, daddy Egbert features in this too, everyone is a bartender!, gamzee is a bartender too, nothing too major, omega John obviously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-06
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-06 21:54:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8770831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indirectHonesty/pseuds/indirectHonesty
Summary: The alphas were the dominant breed, and were able to form a bond with either a beta or an omega, if they ever found one. Alpha and alphas bonds were rare, even more so than an alpha bonding with an omega.  The betas were the people who were tagged as ‘normal’. They could only form a bond with an alpha, and never with an omega. They made up a little bit over half the population.The omegas were somewhat rare, only making up about 10% of the population. They were considered low-class, and older people discriminated against them.No one wanted to be an omega, as they were the ones pushed around and dominated. Most people wanted to be presented as a beta, as many couldn’t handle the stress of an alpha, who would have to maintain their territory. Most omegas were unhappy with their title. John Egbert was an exception.





	1. Chapter One

David Elizabeth Strider was an almost-perfect alpha specimen. He ticked almost every box in the checklist. He was tall (six foot two, to be precise), slim but with hidden muscle, a strong territorial scent, a fierce bloodline and pack, and overall attractiveness. His blonde hair was always flipped casually to the side, the ever-present shades perched on his nose. 

David’s pack was a strong line of alphas, consisting of his brother Dirk, and their guardian Derek ‘Bro’ Strider, all sporting their own peculiar eyewear. The more peculiar quirk about the Strider pack was their relationship habits. The Striders never stayed with a beta or omega for very long. They preferred to hop from each person, dominating rather than waiting to be submitted to. The flaw in David’s coding was that he had never wanted to dominate anyone. He waited to be submitted to, and unlike his brother and guardian, stayed with an individual for a while. 

On the other hand, Dirk Strider was a perfect alpha specimen. He was cold, calculating, and handsome. The pointy shades he wore were as sharp as his words, and he positioned himself at the top. Dirk always strived for dominance, and he spread his scent wherever he could, and on whoever he wanted to. Unlike his brother, he showed off his muscle with pitch-black wife beaters, contrasting with the golden eyes. He dominated a few people, mainly betas, every week at the nightclub he worked at, spreading his DJ talents with Dave, and spreading his scent. 

For the Striders, there were no nerves or worrying on their eighteenth birthday. It was evident that such a pack would only breed alphas. For other families though, the eighteenth birthday of teenagers would be nerve-wracking. Many would worry over what they were to be presented as.  
The alpha was the preferred status. The alphas were the dominant breed, and were able to form a bond with either a beta or an omega, if they ever found one. Alpha and alphas bonds were rare, even more so than an alpha bonding with an omega.  The betas were the people who were tagged as ‘normal’. They could only form a bond with an alpha, and never with an omega. They made up a little bit over half the population.  
The omegas were somewhat rare, only making up about 10% of the population. They were considered low-class, and older people discriminated against them.  
No one wanted to be an omega, as they were the ones pushed around and dominated. Most people wanted to be presented as a beta, as many couldn’t handle the stress of an alpha, who would have to maintain their territory. Most omegas were unhappy with their title. 

John Egbert was an exception. With his small stature, wide blue doll-like eyes, and slim waist, there was no doubt he would be an omega. His father wasn’t disappointed in him though, even if he himself was a beta. John’s whole family were betas, except for his cousin Jade, who was an alpha. Jade and her older brother Jake used to live on an island somewhere in the ocean until they moved over to John’s neighbourhood. 

When John was fifteen, and Dave was seventeen, they used to talk about titles together. Dave promised that he would take care of him if he became an omega. Dave kept that promise, in a way. Once John had turned eighteen, Dave kept him away from the Strider household. This was to make sure that John didn’t get confused and sedated from the scents. Dave was used to the strong pheromones, but he was afraid that John wouldn’t be. He would lay in bed with John, snuggled up, and letting John getting used to his scent slowly. This continued for a few months, until John kept begging Dave to let him go to his place, because he was curious.  
Once he had turned eighteen, John could smell almost everyone’s scent, and was curious to how the Strider’s smelt.  
Dave had told him, “Just cinnamon and orange soda, is all.” He would never tell him Bro’s scents.  
And so, in early December, Dave gave in, and he organised for John to come over to his place. He reminded Dirk and Bro no to go overboard on the dominance. As expected, they ignored him. Dave had spent the rest of the afternoon making a cosy blanket corner where he and John could engage in bro cuddles, and avoid his pack. 

 

John made his way down the busy streets to the familiar Strider household. It was really an apartment, even though they had bought out the entire floor. John walked in the shadows, not wanting to be pushed around at eight in the morning. He may be fine with being an omega, but he wasn’t stupid, thank you very much! He knew that the rare percent of omegas were the weaker, more vulnerable species. He reached the apartment complex, and went up the elevator to the last floor. The apartment was a fancy, expensive building, and he couldn’t believe that Dave’s guardian could buy out the entire floor. As soon as he stepped out of the elevator, a strong smell hit his nose. Cinnamon and orange soda, just like Dave had said. There was also the faint waft of apples mixing with the cinnamon. There was also an unfamiliar scent that he couldn’t place. It must be Bro’s scent. He hadn’t been here since Dave turned eighteen, John realised as he asked into the living room. The only person in the room was Dirk, who was on his laptop, a bunch of wires beside him.  
He looked up at John, “‘Sup?”  
“Uh, where’s Dave?” John tried not to get too close to Dirk, he could already smell the cinnamon and soda getting a bit strong. He knew that Dave had told his pack that he was coming over, why Dirk was spreading his scent casually as if John wasn’t there, he had no idea. John knew that alphas could control their scent easily, betas had a tougher time controlling it, and omegas almost couldn’t control their scent at all.  
“He’s in his room messin’ with his tables,” Dirk said, his Southern drawl more prominent than Dave’s. He shut his laptop and sauntered over to John. He slowly slid his shades up onto his tied-back hair, revealing his golden eyes. “Why? You come for him?”  
John only managed a small nod. Since the scent wasn’t getting any stronger, Dirk probably wasn’t out to dominate him. Dave had told him that Dirk had his own beta at the moment (and by strange coincidence, it just so happened that the beta was his cousin Jake).  
Dirk leant back, hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Dave!” he called out, not taking his eyes off John. “Your omega has arrived!” Dirk looked John up and down slowly.  
He suddenly felt small. In reality he was a mere 5’3 compared to Dirk’s 6’4. It was almost scary.  
“So how’ve you been lately?” Dirk asked, finally keeping his eyes on John’s face. “Have you been adjusting to the rare omega lifestyle? Are you glad that the holy god of alpha/beta/omega dynamics have blessed you with the title of omega, which is paired with the nature of being dominated, being weak, and being vulnerable?”  
John didn’t even know half of what Dirk was saying. He decided to answer the first question and maybe the second question. “I’ve been good!” John squeaked out. “Jade has been helping me adjust to the social hierarchy. Dave has been helping me adjust to strong pheromones.”  
Dirk looked interested. “Has he now?”  
John nodded. Dirk looked like he was going to say something, but Dave flashed into the room. For a few seconds the two brothers engaged in a stare-down, silent. Dirk stepped down and went back to his laptop and soldering. Dave grabbed John gently and pulled him to his room. 

Dave locked the door behind them, not wanting his brothers to enter. of course, this wouldn’t stop them, but it might slow them down for a short while. He turned to face John, who had already set his blue gotten bag to the side, and was waiting for Dave, settled in the blanket corner.  
The room was dim, but Dave still didn’t take off his shades. The blanket corner had a laptop, snacks, and DVDs nearby. Dave didn’t want to go out of his room where he might get confronted by his brothers. Above the blankets were strings of small fairy lights. He had put them up because John once said that they were cute. John was such a dork.  
All in all, the blanket corner was cosy. Yesterday, when Dave was preparing, Dirk had wandered in and remarked, “so this is what your love nests look like.” Dave had pushed him out of the room quite fiercely. It wasn’t supposed to be a love nest. They were just two bros hanging out, and it just so happened that John can get used to the pheromones when he’s in this environment. Besides, he had to be relaxed to fully take in and appreciate his pheromones. John relaxed whilst engaging in bro cuddles and overrated movies. Everyone had different ideas of a cosy spot. It was not a love nest though.  
Dave went over to John, settling down next to him. His long arms went around his friend’s shoulders and small waist, pulling him in. John fit perfectly underneath Dave’s chin, his warm breath feathery-soft on his skin. Dave couldn’t see John, but he knew that his eyes were closed and was taking in the apple smell. Dave rested his head on John’s head, quietly breathing against the silky black hair. He didn’t tell John, but his pheromones smelt like fresh air and citrus. It was a refreshing scent, unlike his rich scent, or Bro’s intoxicating one, or like Dirk’s messed up one that made no sense whatsoever.  
He wondered if John could actually place Bro’s scent, since it was a very mature and odd smell. He probably didn’t. He was very oblivious. John didn’t even realise that smelling another person this close for this long is classified as flirting. Obviously Dave didn’t aim for these cuddle sessions to be flirting. John was just a bro, and he didn’t want John to submit to him. He was two years older than John, and even thought it wasn’t much, it could still turn heads if John decided he wasn’t straight and submitted to Dave.  
In Dave’s opinion, John was the perfect image of an omega. Trim waist, doe eyelashes, crystalline blue eyes, even tan skin, and not to mention a very choice ass. Dave had spent years watching him grown up, and watching him mature. Even if his personality was too loud and rambunctious to be a stereotypical omega, his appearance certainly was.  
John lifted his head up and nudged Dave. He looked down. As usual, his pupils were slightly dilated, and a rosy blush was settling on his cheeks. This was to be expected, as pheromones were supposed to sedate the weaker one. The first time they did it, John was almost completely sedated, and almost submitted, though Dave never told him.  
Dave reached for the laptop, and chose the old Ghostbusters movie. John nuzzled Dave’s neck, breathing out shuddery breaths. Dave tried to ignore the overly-affectionate John, and inserted the disk in, settling back. He opened a packet of chips and started feeding some to John. By the end of the movie, John would be back to his normal self. 

When John regained his sanity and came down from the pheromone high, he remained by Dave’s side, cuddling with him. After watching a few more movies, John’s dad came to collect him. if it were light, John could’ve easily walked home, but his dad didn’t want him to walk in the night street alone. John couldn’t smell it himself, but his pheromones weren’t easily controlled. He could easily be manipulated by a shady alpha. From Mr. Egbert’s point of view, those shady alphas included the Striders. Which was true to some extent. All three of them wore shades, and all three were alphas. John’s dad had informed his son that that was not what he meant by ‘shady alphas’, and John didn’t press the issue any further. 

 

For the next couple of weeks, John would come over to the Strider place and gradually be getting used to the strong pheromones. He still didn’t know what Bro’s scent was, and he was never told by Dave. The way Dave sort of shielded him against the Strider pack seemed as though he was protecting him. Which made no sense. John had been around the Striders for a long time- ever since he was thirteen. He knew them pretty well, even if his dad didn’t really approve of the pack.  
Four days before Christmas, John decided to press the issue.  
“Hey dad, can I ask you a quick question?” John sat at the marble counter, reading reviews online about piercings for Dave (he was planning to buy some new earrings and gauges for him).  
“Go on then, I’m curious,” his dad said at the counter currently making royal icing for the Christmas cake.  
“Why don’t you like the Strider pack?” John asked before backing out. He clicked on some cool hoops, studs, and the correct sized gauges. He also threw in a girlish silver-decorated septum piercing with a small diamante, just for the ‘irony’.  
His dad paused, the mixer still going quietly. He looked as though he was thinking. “It’s not as if I dislike them, son. They just…” he trailed off slowly.  
“Dad.” John said, a bit firmly.  
“The Striders have quite a bad reputation around these parts,” he continued. “They are quite attractive, yet that just makes them all the more dangerous.”  
John shrugged. “No, not really. I don’t think they’re that attractive.”  
His dad raised an eyebrow, as if to defy him. “In any case, they dominate any willing, and unwilling, beta or omega, then dump them. It’s not that big a deal if they were submitted to, but when one is dominated, their rights are taken away.”  
John nodded, showing he was listening as he paid for the express delivery. The piercings would arrive the day before Christmas hopefully, and he’ll disinfect them in case they weren’t already.  
“All three of the Striders have dominated at least forty males put together, many who were just presented.”  
“Dave hasn’t dominated anyone,” John retorted.  
His dad stopped the mixer, unplugging it. He looked John dead in the eye. “Karkat Vantas. Terezi Pyrope. Tavros Nitram. All were dominated courtesy of David Strider. Just to name a few.”  
“How would you know about this?”  
“His guardian, Derek, is very open about their relationships on social media, believe me.”  
That sounded like something Bro would do. Though the dominating thing with Dave didn’t sound realistic.  
His dad started to wash the dishes. “Now you can either go to the store to pick up some candy canes to put on the tree, or you can help me with the cake.”  
“Store.” John said quickly.  
“You can get out ten dollars from my wallet.” he said. “Don’t be out too late, make sure you’ve got your phone with you.”  
John nodded, slipping on a sweater and putting his phone in his back pocket. He went past the mentioned wallet, taking the required amount of money and leaving the house.


	2. Chapter Two

After getting the candy canes, apple juice for Dave, and Doritos for Dirk, he went to drop the last two items off at the Strider household. He went up the fancy-ass elevator to the equally fancy yet modern floor. He called out before entering so he wouldn’t be mistaken for an intruder and get impaled by a sword. John went to the kitchen and used a marker to label ‘Dirk’ on the Doritos. Everyone knew that the apple juice would be for Dave, so there was no need to label it. The glass bottle practically already said ‘DAVE STRIDER’ in bright red scrawl. He opened the fridge to put the juice inside. Surprisingly, there were no swords anymore, and was instead filled with real food. John bent down to move the store-bought Christmas pudding to hide the juice at the back.   
There was a sharp wolf-whistle, causing John to straighten up and quickly and turn to find the source of the sound.   
The whistle had come from Dirk. He was leaning against the door frame, holding a can of soda. Orange soda. His hair wasn’t tied back or styled, reaching the top of his exposed shoulders. Even with the pointy shades on, John could tell that Dirk was looking him up and down again, just like he had a few weeks ago.   
“H-hey, Dirk.”   
“What ‘cha doin’?”   
John shut the fridge. “Hiding Christmas gifts.”   
“Where’s mine?”  
John gestured to the bad of Doritos on the counter.   
Dirk smirked. “Oh, sweet.” he walked over next to John, opening the bag without hesitation.   
“It’s supposed to be for Christmas,” John pointed out.   
Dirk ignored him, crunching the triangle between his teeth.   
“Where’s Dave?” John looked around.   
“He’s out fixing some part of his tables. He spilt apple juice on them.” he replied, turning and leaning his back against the counter.  
John nodded. “Oh yeah, why aren’t there any swords in the fridge?”  
He snorted. “That stopped being ironic when Dave got presented as an alpha. We hired a maid around Christmas time last year. Christmas is about giving. We gave her money, and she gave us her cleaning expertise.” he drank the rest of his soda and threw the can in the bin. “Speaking of giving, why don’t I give you your Christmas gift tonight?”   
John suddenly became wary. Dirk must’ve noticed him tense up, because he gave him a dismissive gesture.   
“Just hold on.” Dirk said, and flashed out of the room. A split second later, he appeared next to him, holding a lanyard with a golden card attached. He held it out for John. John took it slowly.   
“What is it?”   
“It’s a pass for the nightclub we work at. I would’ve given it to you on Christmas day, but the card is only valid on Christmas Eve.” Dirk explained. “And only over 21 year olds are supposed to enjoy the club, no minors. Dave’s an exception because he works there. You’ve got a card, so you’re all good.”   
John nodded, hanging to around his neck. “I don’t know if my dad’ll let me go. He doesn’t trust you.”   
Dirk shrugged. “Bro’ll convince him.”   
“How?”   
“Not tellin’,”   
Silence.  
“Well, I should probably go.” John turned and picked up the candy canes. “Oh, before I forget; has Dave ever dominated anyone?”   
As soon as Dirk said “yes”, John exited the complex and went back to his own home. 

When Dave got home, he was greeted by a fresh waft of Egbert. It was recent as well. He dumped his stuff in his room and flashed to Dirk’s room.   
“John was here,” Dave said quickly.   
Dirk was in his bed, wearing a ridiculous pony onesie, and watching MLP on his laptop. He looked up at his younger brother. “Yeah, and?”   
Dave lowered his shades and glared.   
“Hey, I just gave your omega an early Christmas gift. I’m trustworthy. I’ve got Jake anyway.”   
“He’s not my omega.” Dave pushed up his shades. “And he’ll never be. I value his freedom. Plus, he’s not gay.”   
“It don’t matter ‘cause he’s gonna be dominated sometime, whether he likes it or not.” Dirk chuckled. “Who wouldn’t want a handful of that twink ass?”   
Dave was quiet, his poker face switched back on.   
“Would you rather have him dominated by you, or someone random?” Dirk went back to MLP.   
“What was your gift to him?” Dave ignored his brother’s question.   
“The Christmas Eve VIP pass.”   
Dave almost lost his poker face. “Are you serious? John won’t survive! He’s nearly in heat, and he’ll be inviting all the alphas to rub up against him.”   
“Memorised his heat pattern?” Dirk raised his eyebrows. “Don’t worry, I’ll stick by him. Your little Egbert booty is safe with me.”   
Dave hesitated, clearly weighing up the options. It was either risking a stranger to pick up John, or have Dirk look after him. He decided that if on the off-chance that John got dominated, he would rather it be Dirk than a complete stranger. Not that Dirk would even try to dominate a fresh omegas he usually aimed for betas who were a few years past their presentation. He liked a challenge.   
“Alright, fine. Just remember that I’ll be there DJing, and Karkat will be there are a bartender. We’ll be watching you.”   
Dirk rolled his head slightly, signalling an eye roll. “Yeah, whatever, just let John have a good time for once. I think that he needs to be exposed to other pheromones, instead of being cooped up in your sappy love nest with only your sickly apple scent.”   
Dave shook his head. “It’s not a love nest, and my sent is not sickly. John doesn’t think it smells sickly.”  
Dirk raised an eyebrow. “Obviously. I can smell his stimulation from a mile away.”  
“Don’t call it stimulation. It’s an ugly word.” Dave muttered. “He’s just my best bro, and I don’t want him to go into the new world unprepared.”   
“And you prepare him with flirt sessions?”   
“I want him to build a resistance to strong pheromones.”   
“That’s bullshit and you know it. You can’t build resistance to pheromones.”  
Dave stayed by the door, not moving. “No, that’s not true. John isn’t being affected by my pheromones like he used to.”   
“He’s getting used to your scent, but not anyone else’s.” Dirk sighed. “Now can you leave me to my MLP marathon? Rainbow Dash’s spunk cannot be ignored.”  
“You’re twenty-seven and you’re watching that show unironically.” Dave sighed, then flashed back to his room, where he would continue to work on his turntables.   
As soon as John got home, he asked his dad about the club, and the obvious answer was ‘no’. A few hours later, his dad got a call, and he left the house for almost two hours to take care of business. Fatherly activities, John supposed. All he knew is that when his dad got back, he was allowed to go to the club with two of the ‘shady Striders’. It made John wonder what could’ve possibly happened in two hours that made his dad change his usually adamant opinion. Nevertheless, John was allowed to go to the club.

 

On the morning of Christmas Eve, the piercings arrived. John spent the first half of the day disinfecting them, and organising the rest of the gifts to his other friends, attaching Christmas cards to the appropriate parcels. John then spent an hour or so lazing around the house, knowing he should start on his winter break homework, but he didn’t for some reason. He blamed procrastination. Anyway, he had other things to worry about. His dad had given him a lecture about nightclubs. Mainly about the dangers, but also about being alone with Dirk. John had nodded, assuring him that some of Dave’s beta friends would be there as well, including Dave. That seemed to calm his dad down a bit. 

John was in his room when he heard his dad say, “Dirk is here!”  
Before John could get out of his bed, Dirk had flashed from the front door to the doorway of John’s room.   
John was surprised he even knew the layout of the house.   
Dirk had his blonde hair styled in a very sharp, spiky way, pointing to the left ever so slightly. He wore his trademark black wife-beater (why were men’s tank-tops called that anyway? Domestic violence shouldn’t be supported, in John’s opinion, but what did he know? And besides, why was Dirk wearing that? It’s winter!) paired with slim-fitting maroon jeans, his shades perched on his face.  
“Sup.” Dirk said, tipping his chin up gently as a greeting.   
John fumbled out of his bed.   
Shit. Dirk was hot.   
Wait no, you’re a heterosexual John, stop thinking this.   
“Is that Dave’s sweater?” Dirk raised an eyebrow. “What am I saying, of course it is, all I smell are apples.”   
John checked the time. “The club opens in an hour.”   
“Yeah, but I thought you may need help getting dressed.” Dirk moved closer. “I don’t think you’ve ever dressed sexy before in your life.”   
“That’s because I’m not.”   
Dirk didn’t say anything as he went to the closet and starting sifting through the clothes.   
John settled back down on his bed, silently observing what Dirk was doing   
“Mmm, this is nice,” Dirk pulled out some black skinny jeans. John had worn them back when he was sixteen, and that had been for a choir concert. And to clear things up, John was not the one singing. He was playing the piano for them. There was no singing involved for him.   
“Absolutely no-” John ducked as Dirk threw them at him lightly. Dirk threw three more pairs and John had to catch a pair that almost hit Casey’s enclosure.  
Casey was a sandy-coloured salamander that he adopted from Rose. John wasn’t too sure what breed she was, but Casey was his sweet daughter. And her name was Casey! Not Vice Roy Sally or something like that. One of those mysterious, silly names Rose gives her animals.   
John cooed at Casey lovingly, and when he turned around, he got hit in the face by a dark blue button-up shirt. Again, an article of clothing he had worn when he was sixteen.   
“Which jeans do you like best?” Dirk asked.   
John looked. The black jeans were probably the ones that would fit. He was prepared to wear them even if they did bring back embarrassing memories. “Uh, the black ones. But question:”   
Dirk made an interested noise.   
“Why are you wearing that shirt? It’s winter.”   
Dirk straightened up and looked at him. “You’ve never been to a nightclub and pressed up against sweaty, hot bodies. Trust me on this one, Egbert.”   
John nodded, and pushed Dirk out of the room and got changed in the outfit that he had chosen for him. The jeans were a bit small though, although it was to be expected. He let Dirk back in the room.   
Dirk wolf-whistled, just like he had done a few days ago, as he shut the door behind him. “Hot.”   
John raised his eyebrows. “You’re joking.” he examined himself in the mirror.  “I’m actually not.” Dirk folded his arms. As Dirk was looking him up and down again, John realised he knew almost nothing about Dave’s older brother. From what he knew, Dirk was good at machinery and mechanics. Dave sometimes talked about the robots and AIs he’s created. He once mentioned a robot he sent to his beta to test his fighting skills. Another mention was to the AI that resided in a pair of Dirk’s shades. Apparently the AI had named himself ‘Lil Hal’.   
Another thing John knew about Dirk was that he worked at a nightclub. He didn’t know which nightclub, but Dave worked there as well. Dave worked there on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. Tonight was Sunday. Dave would be there working when John was with the Strider who was nine years older than him. Said older Strider also had a reputation for dominating males who were passive or submissive. Hopefully nothing would happen. John wasn’t gay, and Dirk had a mate; for now anyway.   
Dirk slipped the card over John’s head and checked the Rolex on his wrist. “We should go now.” he steered John out of the room, saying good-bye to John’s dad on the way, who was making another cake (no surprise there).


	3. Chapter Three

A sleek amber sports car was waiting outside for them, and John had to wonder how the Striders were so rich. What on Earth did they do? A simple DJ job wouldn’t buy a fancy sports car.   
Dirk opened the door for John and shut it when he was in. He went around the front and got in the driver’s seat. He started up the car, which greeted him with a low purr. Dirk nodded approvingly, and started to drive.   
“So, you gay?”   
John furrowed his brow at the unexpected question. How was he supposed to answer that? Sure, he found Dirk and Dave attractive, but was he a homosexual, or was it just his omega side wanting to attach to a strong alpha? “Why?”   
“Jus’ ‘cause we’re goin’ to a gay nightclub, is all.” Dirk shrugged.   
John’s eyes widened. “Huh?”  
“We’re going to a gay club.” Dirk repeated. “And don’t worry about men trying to grind up against you, ‘cause I’ll be doing that and scaring them off.”   
John tilted his head in slight confusion. “But aren’t you with Jake?”   
Dirk looked at him before turning back to the road. “We had a small disagreement. Long story, he took drugs with my other friends, Jane and Roxy. Made them go way too hyperactive and high, and talking about marriage for some reason.”   
“Oh.” John didn’t know what to say. “Did you break up with him?”   
“Yeah,” Dirk nodded. “It was easy, since I hadn’t knotted him yet. Man, it’s fucking hard to leave them when you’ve knotted.”   
“I really didn’t need to hear that.”   
Dirk chuckled and pulled into the parking lot. John could hear the thumping music and see the escaping lights cutting through the dark night sky.   
Dirk parked the car quietly and got out, John following. Once John reached Dirk, Dirk slung his arm loosely around John’s trim waist and pulled him in close. John was hit with the soft smell of orange soda that was quickly getting heavier.  “Calm down,” Dirk whispered. “Your pheromones are getting a bit wild. Not that I mind, but it’s going to get every guy hot under his collar.”   
John would be lying if he said he wasn’t flustered by the closeness, and the crudeness of Dirk’s words. He was thankful of the night’s darkness, as he was almost sure he was blushing. Perhaps he wasn’t a straight as he planned.   
“Those weren’t the words I wanted to hear,” John said as Dirk led him to the front door. The bouncer took one look at Dirk, and John’s golden card, and let them in. Thank goodness, because that bouncer look terrifying. John snuck a peek at the tag: Zahhak, as Dirk led him into the club.   
All at once, John was in sensory overload. The flashing neon lights and the possibly headache inducing music made John feel light-headed already. One look at the mass of bodies dancing to the music against their current dance partners made him nervous. He really didn’t know how to dance. Although, a part of him wanted to wander over to that really nice smelling guy over in that corner…   
Dirk must’ve seen John stare off because his grip on John’s waist tightened as he steered them to the bar.   
The bartender was a short man with unruly black hair, looking about the same age as Dave.   
“Brought in another one, Strider?” he snapped. If there was such a thing as aggressively cleaning shot glasses, this bartender was doing it right now.   
“Nah,” Dirk shook his head. “This is John. John, Karkat,” Karkat nodded once. “Karkat, John.”   
Dirk sat down and Karkat slid an orange drink across for him. John sat down on the stool next to Dirk and looked around whilst Dirk and Karkat were talking. He heard something about ‘Dave’, ‘DJing’, and ‘I don’t get paid enough for this’, but after that, John didn’t continue listening. The heady rush of pheromones made him go light-headed even more as he watched everyone dance to the steady beat. He glanced at the multi-coloured lights flashing around the space. He rose out of his seat slowly, not even knowing what he was going to do. A steady hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality and his seat.   
“See? This is no place for a weak omega.” Karkat rolled his eyes. “Even if it were, it’d be best if you put him on a leash.”   
Dirk looked at John. “A collar ain’t a bad idea. A nice lil piece of leather around that pretty slim neck of yours.”   
John hoped he was joking. He nodded slowly through the thick haze of pheromones.   
Karkat raised an eyebrow. “Has he not been owned yet?”   
John was about to ask what he meant, but Dirk shook his head. “Shut it, shortie. ‘Owned’ is such a bad term for submissive.”   
“You say that, yet you alphas sure like to prance and show off your new pet,” Karkat slid a cocktail to a male a few stools down.   
“Calm down there,” Dirk offered his drink to John, who took a few sips. Orange soda, no surprise, but with a lacing of a strong alcohol. “Besides, terminology and your personal vendetta of alphas aside, why do you ask?”   
Karkat nodded toward John. “He’s becoming drawn to that one guy in the corner. If he was owned, he wouldn’t be this weak.”  John mumbled his protest, even though Karkat was probably right. “Not gay.”   
“Not gay?” Karkat gave a bitter sort of laugh. “It doesn’t matter once an alpha wants you. And that guy wants your body. You get no say in the whole ordeal, you’ve got to please them, love them, become attached to them. Then you’re forced to knot with them, and if you’re lucky, they’ll stay.”   
Just by those few sentences, John felt small.   
“It’s going to be worse for you, ‘cause you’re an omega. And I know how bad it is, to be wanted, dominated, then left.” Karkat growled, making John snap out of the pheromone haze and recoil.   
“That’s enough, Karkat.” Dirk said. “Your shift is over. Go away.” he stood up, pulling John to his feet. “Don’t you worry about Karkat.”   
“Wasn’t he Dave’s partner?” John asked as Dirk led him to the dance floor.   
Dirk nodded. “Do you dance?”   
He only had a quick second to say ‘no’ before getting pulled into the mass of bodies and heated pheromones. Dirk pulled him into the middle of the crowd.   
“Focus on my scent,” Dirk leant into John’s ear, spilling hot air and making him flustered.   
John gulped and nodded, smelling the orange soda and cinnamon, the others fading away. Dirk smirked and licked his lips.   
John, no, don’t think it, no; stop right there, please don’t think it.   
Fuck.   
He’s hot. Even with his stupid trademark shirt and pointy anime shades.   
Dirk pulled John closer, his hips moving to the music. “Jus’ relax, kitten.”   
John turned red; did Dirk have too much to drink? Although, it was nice being called ‘kitten’, and not ‘Egbutt’. John closed his eyes for a second and let the pheromones wash over him. When he opened them up again, his pupils were blown up. Dirk smirked again, holding the omega close as they danced together. John let out a yelp as he felt someone grab his ass; and it wasn’t Dirk. Dirk pulled John closer as he growled at the man who did it. Like, full-on growled. The man backed off into the crowd.   
Dirk sighed and pulled John off to the bar again. “You need a drink.”   
John felt the need to protest, but hey, what are words? He nodded slowly.   
“If you don’t get some alcohol in your system, you’ll dance like a fucktard,” Dirk rolled his eyes as he pushed his shades up onto his head. He ordered some sort of drink, and when it was ready, he gave it to John. “Drink it all up, sugar.”   
John pouted and stared at the dark drink in front of him. Then he felt Dirk place his hand on his head, running his hand through the black locks. John started to drink.   
Half-way through the drink, John started to get the light-headed feeling back. He almost dropped the glass, but Dirk took it from him just in time to place on the bar counter.   
“You ready?” he asked, and John nodded, purring into Dirk’s hand.   
“Yo, no flirting near the bar.” the new bartender called out, not angrily though. He had a bit of a jovial look on his face as he watched them.   
“Can it, Gamzee,” Dirk chuckled. “This hot piece of ass doesn’t belong to me yet.”   
The bartender, Gamzee, rolled his eyes jokingly and went off to talk to another customer.   
John took Dirk’s hand and pulled on it, directing him towards the dance floor.   
“Okay, okay, I’m coming, princess,” Dirk placed his other hand on John’s waist.   
John decided that he likes pet names. 

Dirk smirked as he let John rub against him. It was a good call to get some alcohol in him. Alcohol worked wonders. It was almost refreshing to see the small omega exposed to strong pheromones. When Dave was trying to ‘build a resistance’ for John, which was bullshit by the way, it almost tortured Dirk to see John flustered from weak-ass scents. Anyway, even if it was instinct and the pheromones making John dance like this, it was hot. Case closed.   
Dirk glanced over at the DJ spot; Dave was working hard, his blonde hair pushed back in concentration. He glanced over at the bar; Karkat had left, Gamzee was probably smoking weed in the back room. He looked back down at John, who was grinding his plush ass into his crotch. Holy fuck, John was better than Jake. Wait, they kind of looked the same in this light. Odd.   
“Hey babe, let’s take a break,” he leant down and kissed the tip of John’s ear. John nodded slowly. He was fully sedated. Fuck yeah. Sometimes being an alpha with desirable pheromones helped him pick up cuties almost ten years younger than him.   
With another quick look at Dave, Dirk lead John off the dance floor. He pulled him gently through the people, growling at anyone who tried to take John, and into the bathroom.   
The bathroom, which was very clean and white, muted the sound of the music, but Dirk’s ears were filled with buzzing, and John’s sedated groans and moans. He clung tight to Dirk as he pushed John against the wall gently. Well, it was now or never. John lifted his head up needy as Dirk leant down, pressing their lips together harshly. John kissed back with as much enthusiasm as a pheromone-exposed omega could have. Their teeth clicked together annoyingly, but John’s soft lips made up for it and Dirk didn’t care. He pressed his leg between John’s, and enjoyed the taste of the omega. He pulled apart for a quick breather, going back down to catch John’s bottom lip in his teeth, biting gently. John moaned and grabbed at Dirk’s shirt and spiky hair, opening his mouth to protest against the sharp, stiff spikes. Dirk tilted his head to the side, letting go of John’s bottom lip to take advantage of the open mouth, pushing his tongue into John’s mouth. This cause John to practically melt in Dirk’s arms, leaning on his for support. John’s pheromones were going crazy; it would take two hours cleaning time to get rid of the smell of an omega getting dominated.   
Dirk pulled back again -John protesting immediately- to assess John’s neck. He had to be quick about it, it was almost Dave’s turn to quit his shift. He tilted John’s head to the side, and he leaned in, licking a long stripe from the base of his neck to the jaw. John shivered and let out a breathy moan.  “Dirk,” John mumbled. “Mark me…”   
“Hold on a sec, sweetie,” Dirk murmured, trying to make this as painless as possible. John had obviously learnt about this at school, because he was eagerly presenting his neck and whimpering.   
Before Dirk knew what hit him, he was sent sprawling, and his back hit the opposite wall. When he realised what happened, he saw Dave standing protectively next to John, his fist still clenched. Dirk rubbed his jaw where Dave had punched hit.   
Dirk checked his watch as he steadied himself. Shit. Dave’s shift had been over for ten minutes. Had it already been twenty minutes? Time flies when you’re making out with an omega.   
Dave held John close, examining his neck. John mumbled and mewled out needy for Dirk.   
“Don’t worry, didn’t mark him,” Dirk assured Dave, who shot him a death glare. He didn’t have his aviators on, but Dirk could feel the intensity of the glare. Dave’s hold on John got tighter.  “I’m telling his father.” Dave said, trying to contain the horny omega. “He’s going to be beyond pissed.”   
“Bro’ll calm him down.” Dirk watched as John gave up on Dirk and instead started nipping at Dave’s chin playfully.   
“You’d best hope so,” Dave growled, and John let out a quiet moan. Horny fucker. “You’ve gone and started his heat early. Tomorrow is Christmas.”   
Dirk shrugged. “So?”   
“He’s going to be in pain for two weeks, all because you decide you want him as a replacement for Jake,” Dave’s words were bitter, and they struck Dirk though the chest. He was at a loss for words. Dave scooped up John up into his arms, ignoring the nuzzles and ignoring the nuzzles and desperate licks under his chin. “Don’t go near him again.” With that, Dave left the bathroom, leaving Dirk.   
“Fuck.” he leant against the cold tiles, listening to the muted mediocre music. He had missed his chance.


	4. Chapter Four

Mr. Egbert, naturally, forbade John from seeing any of the Striders until whenever he saw fit. Dave had apologised many times and hoped that John’s first heat wouldn’t be bad. But it was. John had learnt about his heat as soon as he was presented. Only omegas had it, and it was supposed to help them find a mate quickly. The heat’s scent attracts viable alphas or betas, and launches their sexual drive into overdrive. Luckily, all alphas and betas could control their urges pretty well. Even so, if the omega was taken, their mate would fight off the others. John didn’t have a mate, so if dad spent Christmas patrolling the house. 

John lay in his bed, huddled in his blankets in the darkness. He was still embarrassed by his behaviour at the club last night. He knew that Dirk took advantage of him by using his pheromones, but he never wanted to face him again. Blurry images flooded his mind: John making out with Dirk, presenting his neck, Dave punching Dirk… John buried his head in the pillows, trying to ignore the dull pains down there. His dad had told him that Dirk had started his heat early. John bit his pillow, muffling his groans. Fuck… he had to go through his every three months. John closed his eyes, and thought of Dave when he breathed in the youngest Strider’s scent he had left behind. John’s pupils dilated as he kept breathing it in, relaxing. The pain was soon ignored as John sunk into apple heaven. No wonder most omegas loved pheromones, the scents were addictive and sedative. John soon relaxed, closing his eyes, Dave’s neatly wrapped present lay on John’s desk, waiting. After a few minutes - or hours, John lost track of time - he heard a knock on his window. John sat up, holding the pillow. His blue eyes widened when he saw Dave’s face at the glass. Dave waved his hand.   
John opened the window quickly, letting him in. “What are you doing here?”   
Dave tumbled onto John’s bed gracefully. “Making sure my best bro is handing his heat well.”   
“It’s okay when I can smell you,” John said. “it relaxes me.”   
Dave’s face shifted into something unreadable. Usually John could read his friend’s face pretty well. “That’s good.” he said after a moment’s hesitation. “Anyway, where’s you dad?”   
“Fighting, patrolling.”   
Dave nodded. “Protecting your little booty.”   
John rolled his eyes. “I guess you could call it that.” The dull pain started up again, and he moved forward to coin to Dave. He felt Dave slip his arms around his waist. Dave was so soft compared to Dirk. Dirk was sharp, just like his shades. John nuzzled into Dave’s chest, re-immersing himself in the warm, comforting smell.   
“So, your dad is preoccupied,” Dave whispered. “Wanna sneak out?”   
John looked up at him. “You’re already in trouble with my dad.”   
“C’mon Egbabe, it’ll be fine.” Dave assured him, running his hand through John’s black hair.   
“Yeah, but I’m in heat,” John whined, butting his head into Dave’s hand, acting almost exactly like a cat.   
“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” Dave smiled softly at him. “I just wanna drive you up to somewhere scenic. We could go see the Christmas lights when it gets dark as well.” his voice was smooth, and John found himself nodding.   
“Yeah… sounds good…” John mumbled, burying his face in Dave’s chest when he stopped petting his hair.   
“Great!” Dave chuckled. “Let’s get you dressed.” When Dave went to get up, John whined and clung tighter. Dave sighed at his clinginess that the heat had manipulated. Dave picked John up, who wrapped his legs around his waist. Dave went over to the closet to pick out the clothes. When Dave was finished, John was in warm attire for the winter weather. John only got off Dave when he gave him his scarf. John practically purred into Dave’s scarf as Dave picked John up again.   
“We’re going to hop out of the window and go to my car now,” Dave whispered in John’s ear. John nodded, nuzzling Dave’s neck.   
Dave placed John down on the ground first, then hopping down beside him a second later. Dave held John’s hand as he led them to his car. It certainly wasn’t a flashy car like his brother’s, but it looked normal. Dave helped John into the car.   
“Where do you want to go while it’s still light?” Dave asked.  “Anywhere with no people,” John buried his face in Dave’s scarf.   
Dave nodded, starting up the car. “Good idea, I don’t want to fight off anon just yet. Ill take you somewhere I go all the time.”   
John nodded, curling up in the seat. “Davey, the pain started again.”  Dave looked at him. “Where is it?” John only called him ‘Davey’ when he was sleepy. Or hung up on pheromones evidently.  
John mumbled, “Lower half”.   
“You can have a quick nap while I drive. It’ll only take an hour,” Dave told him.  John yawned and closed his eyes.   
 Dave gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter as he went over everything that happened. He didn’t know a lot about omega heats, but in the little research he did do, he had found out a few things. One of the things Dave had learnt, was that when an omega’s heat was in play, the omega could get pretty weird. Weird as in super cuddly or super horny. The heat apparently attracted alphas when the omega was horny. Luckily Dave had his sword and they were going somewhere pretty abandoned. Dave just didn’t know he he could control himself, or if John could control himself. It was a risky combination, an alpha and an omega. Perhaps if Dave had persuaded John to go on the soccer team, John wouldn’t have been an omega. Oh well, too late now. Dave drove up the roads, turning into the almost-empty highway. He turned and looked at John. John almost looked like an angel, or a deer, sleeping. His fluffy black hair looked soft enough to run his hands through, the smooth tan skin that smelled so good, and those pretty lips that would look great wrapped-   
Holy shit. Stop that thought right now Dave Strider. Oh no. Finish that thought before it goes dirty. Wrapped around a bottle of Holy Water, guzzling that shit down, amen!   
‘Anyway,’ Dave thought, sneaking another look at John, ‘would it even fit in his-‘   
Fuck. Nope. That is not a child-friendly thought!   
Dave gripped the wheel tighter, forcing himself to look at the road in front of him. He sighed and shook his head, trying to get rid of all the intrusive thoughts.   
After twenty more minutes, Dave pulled into a car park in front of a Seven Eleven. Dave gently woke John up, who groaned sleepily.  “Mmm?” John stretched.   
“C’mon Sleeping Beauty, we’re going to get some cheap lunch and something to mask the scent of your heat.”   
John nodded, blinking slowly behind his glasses. He got out of the car and held Dave’s hand instantly. Dave smiled a bit, locking the car and walking into the Seven Eleven. All at once, all heads turned to the pair as soon as they walked through the door. Dave let out a warning growl, and most of them turned back to whatever they were doing before. Dave led John to the snack aisle, grabbing two cups of instant noodles, a pack of candy, and two bottles of water. He gave the candy and water bottles to John, letting go of his hand for the moment. They went to the ‘hygiene’ aisle next, namely where all the condoms and shit were. Dave picked up a heat spray can for John, making his way to the counter. After paying, and using the hot water from the coffee/tea machine for their noodles, they went back to the car.   
“Thank god for Seven Eleven on Christmas Day,” Dave put the food on the top of his car, John nodding. John was always this responsive when he just woke up; Dave didn’t mind.   
Dave got out the spray can. “Stand next to the car.”   
John did as Dave asked, and Dave sprayed John down. After a moment, Dave couldn’t smell the heat anymore. Of course, it didn’t mean it still wouldn’t effect John, the spray just kept the others away.   
“Okay’s let’s go.” Dave took down the food and climbed in. “You can eat in my car by the way, I don’t mind.”  John nodded, taking the noodles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, there's going to be a wait before the next few chapters, as my main MacBook is suffering from water damage. It'll be a while until I can get it repaired, so in the mean time, please be patient.


	5. Chapter Five

It took Dave twenty more minutes to drive to the place. It would’ve taken twenty-five minutes if he hadn’t have speeded near the end. John had finished his noodles and was using the remaining hot water as a makeshift hot water bottle.   
Dave parked his car outside an abandoned house. “We’re here.”   
John looked outside. “I’m not leaving this car until you can convince me a serial killer isn’t waiting for us.”   
“I’ve got my sword in the back, it’s chill,” Dave got out. “Besides, I still come here all the time to take photos. And as soon as I learnt how to drive, I kept coming. It’s safe. Trust me.”   
John sighed and hopped out of the car. He shivered when the frosty cold air touched him. He grabbed Dave’s warms hands again.   
“I think I still have my hideout here. The last time I came here was about half a month ago.” he said, leading John to the entrance. He walked up the stairs, John pausing to look at the glass-less windows. Dave walked through the closest door on the left. The room wasn’t very big, but it was far from small. The room was illuminated by the tall windows on the walls. These ones had glass in them. Dave explained that he put the glass panes in himself. The cracks in the walls were covered up by photos of dead animals, nature, and his friends. Dave led John over to the friend corner, sitting down on the cold concrete. John sat down next to him, leaning his head on Dave’s shoulder.   
“This was when we all went to the beach,” Dave pointed to the closest photo. “Rose and Jade versus you and me for the shoulder war.” he pointed to another one of Jake in the sand. “Dirk buried Jake because Jake was pissing him off.”   
John looked around. “What’s that one?”   
Dave looked. “Oh. That one.” It was a shot of John, around fifteen, pointing to the sky. “That was after school, and that day you saw a cloud shaped like a dog. Or a dick. I forgot.”   
John playfully shoved his shoulder. “It was a dog. Anyway, you actually remember all of this?”   
“Well, yeah,” Dave shrugged. “It’s hard to forget about the dorky things someone you love has down.”  There was a short silence before Dave realised what he had said.   
“Wait, I mean-” Dave tried to backpedal quickly.   
Suddenly, John’s lips are on his, and holy fuck, his brain stopped working smoothly. He was kissing his best bro of six years. Out of those six years, four years were of unrequited love for the derp. Even if John was so oblivious all the goddamn time. Not that Dave was complaining right now. How could he, when the softest pair of lips in the universe were moving against his?   
Karkat’s kisses were all teeth and bite, but- wait. Don’t think about your ex-mate, Dave. Don’t you dare.  It was such a cute, fluffy kiss. No tongue or teeth involved. Just two pairs of lips moving against each other. John pulled back, licking his lips.   
There was a small awkward silence.   
“Is this, uh, your heat acting?” Dave asked.  
John shook his head. “I don’t think so.”  Dave nodded slowly. “Uh, can I kiss you again?”  As soon as John gave his consent, Dave placed his lips back on John’s, their eyes closing at the same time.   
A small intrusive though popped into his mind: Dave, you’re kissing your best bro who made out with your older brother not even 24 hours ago.   
Dave dismissed that thought to the back of his mind, focusing on John. He lifted up his hands, running them through John’s dark hair. John slipped off Dave’s card he had been wearing. All at once, Dave’s spine tingled as he smelt the heat. The spray had worn off, and now that the scarf was off, John’s neck glands were exposed. He should not be doing this with John, but oh God, it felt so good. They pulled slowly apart again.   
“Wow. That was really gay, Egbutt.” Dave teased, half-smiling. “Are you sure you aren’t a homosexual?”   
“Shut up, I was fourteen when I said that,” John retorted. “And secondly, your brother kisses better than you.”   
Bitch.   
“Firstly, you were thirteen. Secondly, no way.”  “Yes way.”   
“I’ll prove it.”   
“Then do.”   
Oh it’s on.   
“I need to ask for your consent first because I’m a gentlemen.” Dave told him.   
“You talk too much. I consent.”  “Good.” Dave was on him again, his mouth opened. He shifted, pressing John against the cold wall. His hands moved down, rubbing John’s neck. John moaned into Dave’s mouth, giving Dave the confidence to play with John’s tongue with his own. Halfway through exploring John’s mouth, he realised how fucked up this was. But it was also really nice. Dave broke up, eating softly. Dave must’ve kept his pheromones on the down-low because John looked normal.   
John nuzzled Dave’s chin. “I take it back. You’re a great kisser.”  Dave rolled his eyes. “Was there any dou- oh shit.”   
While Dave had been speaking, John had placed his mouth on his neck. If John bit down, he’ll belong to Dave. A bite on the neck causes the submission or domination to happen. And Dave was pretty damn sure that John knew this. Dave had only slipped up a few times himself, actually. He had only wanted to give Karkat a lovebite!  
“John…” Dave’s low voice was a warning. John only hummed and started to suck slowly. Dave knew he had to push John away. He can’t submit to Dave, he’s only eighteen! Dave felt John sink his teeth into his pale skin; it was too late. John pulled back, licking his lips. His face was flushed, he was panting, and his pretty lips were red. All signs of a submission. Dave gulped. He had an urge to pin John to the ground and help the pain of the heat ease up. John looked at Dave expectantly.   
“Holy shit, Egbabe,” Dave groaned. “Did you think that through?”  John looked taken back.   
“I almost knew we shouldn’t have been here when you were in heat. I mean, I was the one who wanted to go-” Dave was cut off by a short kiss from John.   
“You said you love me. But if it bothers you, just break up with me. Just help me ease the pain of this fucking heat.” John snarled.   
Dave nodded. “… yeah, okay.” This heat must be really affecting him. “I’d rather do this at my place. A proper love nest.”   
John frowned, leaning forwards into Dave’s arms. “Okay…”   
Dave rubbed his back. “C’mon, let’s go back. Your dad won’t notice your scent change for a few days, probably after your heat. I’ll get the east prepared. Give me two days.”   
What had Dave gotten himself into?


	6. Chapter Six

Those two days of waiting were possibly the longest days ever. Just as Dave predicted, his dad didn't notice the gradual scent changes. John spent the days reading the books from his booklist, and talking to Jade and Rose. Both girls were concerned about his heat, and John quickly assured then that it was find and no trouble at all. Jade was convinced, but Rose wasn't so sure. No one could get anything past Rose. John had also resorted to his dad dropping off the Christmas presents to the receiver. His dad also lifted the ban from the Strider pack, which have John a bit more freedom to do what he and Dave had planned. 

John arrived at the apartment floor early in the morning. He had sprayed himself with the heat spray an hour earlier. He hoped the Dave still wanted to bond with him, or at least have sex. He wasn't underage, after all. A sensible side to John was telling him that even though he wasn't underage, he was still only eighteen, and that he was trying to bond with an alpha two times his senior from an infamous pack. The other side of him, John wasn't sure what it was, urged John to keep going. John decided to listen to the latter side, pushing the sensible side to the back of his mind. 

John walked into the kitchen. It was empty. After looking around for a minute, he realized it was completely empty. John shrugged and went to Dave's room. The door was shut. John knocked and Dave opened the door quickly. Before John could say anything, Dave lunged forwards and kissed him. They stood there for a minute, just kissing.   
Dave was the one to break the kiss first. "You've put me in a rut. A literal rut, from just thinking about what we're going to do." His voice was breathy.   
John knew what a rut was. To put it simply, it was when an Alpha worked themselves up so much, they need someone to satisfy them. John was really happy to be that someone.   
Dave pulled John inside, not shutting the door. "Make yourself comfy. Is this your first time?"  
John nodded. "Yeah, but what about the door?"  
"The rest of the pack leaves if a member is going to bond. Privacy rule." Dave shrugged.   
John nodded in understanding and turned around. The nest was just Dave's bed, but as John sat down, he found that the bed covers were softer and Dave's scent was everywhere. Dave followed him, sitting next to him. He placed one hand on John's face, rubbing his cheek softly. John groaned slightly and took ahold of Dave's wrist, leaning forward to kiss him. Dave immediately pressed his tongue eagerly into his mouth, quickly dominating John. Dave slowly pressed John down back-first onto the bed. The omega wrapped his legs around the alpha's waist, his tan arms moving to the blonde hair.   
Dave leant back after a while to take off his shades and shirt. "How far do you want to go, babe?"  
John blinked up at the red eyes and the toned pale body that was kneeling in front of him. "All the way."  
Dave nodded, tossing the shades and shirt onto the ground. He leant down and started to attack John's neck with kisses and licks, which progressed to nips and bites. John's legs around Dave's waist tightened as he panted and moaned at the sensations. The experience was so new to John, but natural to Dave. Dave quickly found one of John's sweet spots, and was sucking on it. To keep John engaged while he was sucking, Dave used his hands to creep under John's shirt. His light touched left John shivering in pleasure. As soon as Dave broke away from his neck, his hands started to play with John's nipples, tweaking and pulling. John began to moan out Dave's name and buck his hips, searching for friction.   
"Are you completely sure about all of this?" Dave asked again.   
"Fucking take me," John whined.   
Dave snorted. "What a whiny voice, babe."  
With that, he continued his actions. 

When John woke up, he was being cuddled by Dave, who was fast asleep. He got up and was greeted by pains. The pains weren't like his heat pains, but thankfully those were gone. The new pains must be from Dave slamming into him. John grabbed his glasses off the floor. With a quick inspection, he realized he was quite bare. John went to his overnight bag and pulled out a shirt and boxers. He got changed and went over to the blinds, peeking outside. It was dark. John yawned, deciding to go get a drink before going back to snuggle with Dave. He also decided that after sex cuddles were amazing. 

John exited the room quietly, shutting the door behind him. As he made his way to the kitchen, he noticed that he could only faintly smell Dirk and Bro's scent. It must be because he submitted to and bonded with Dave. Bonding wasn't as nice as sex. Bonding was when Dave had to stay inside John for five minutes, because his knot wouldn't allow him to leave. Sex was when his knot didn't make a surprise appearance. John reached the kitchen, sighing happily at the quietness and isolation of the kitchen. When he was reaching up for a glass, he felt something press against him. John stiffened up.   
"Hey, kitten," It was Dirk. He leant over to smell John. "You smell all sexed up."   
John bit his lip, frozen.   
"Did Dave get inside you?" The commanding allure of Dirk's voice made John nod, even though he knew he shouldn't. "I see... I bet it was pretty vanilla. Y'know, I could show you," his hands slipped down to John's waist. "how great bonding can really be."   
"N-no thank you," John stuttered.   
His hands slipped lower, and John flushed red. Dirk leant up to his ear. "You sure?" His breath had a hint of alcohol in it.


	7. Chapter Seven

“I-I’m pretty sure,” John stuttered again.   
“Y’see, I don’t like disobedient kittens,” Dirk drew his fingers around John. “Might hafta train ya…”   
John forgot how to speak as Dirk began to stroke him.   
“Some leather might not be such a bad thing,” Dirk mused. “Although, it’s hide the pretty red mark I’m gonna give ya…”   
John’s mind was a whirl. “I’ve a-already submitted to Dave.” his voice was shaky.   
“I don’t mind,” Dirk nuzzled his neck. “S’long as I can own you.”   
Without any warning, he bit down; hard. John gripped the bench and cried out. In a flash, one hand was on his mouth as the other kept stroking and fondling. Dirk continued to bite down, and John felt the warmth of blood drip down his neck. He kept making muffled cries from under Dirk’s hand. Dirk pressed his hand to John’s mouth tighter, to ensure no one would hear. Despite this, Dirk was suddenly pulled off John quickly. Warm, familiar arms held him close as John steadied himself with the cold counter. When John finally looked around Dave’s shoulder, he saw Dirk being pinned against the wall by none other than Bro Strider. John knew that his real name was Derek, but for some reason he liked to be called Bro. Anyway! This was not the time to be thinking about preferred names. Bro had his forearm at Dirk’s neck, making sure he didn’t move.   
“Is your omega alright?” Bro asked in a deep voice.   
Bro was like the alpha of alphas. He had been top dog in Texas, and when he moved to Washington, he quickly made his mark. He and Dirk looked fairly similar in many ways, including their choice of eyewear.   
Dave inspected John. “His neck is bleeding. I don’t know if Dirk tried to mark him because blood is everywhere.” His voice was slightly, barely hysterical. Anyone a stranger to him wouldn’t know the difference between his normal voice and this one right now. Dave gently pushed John’s face towards his. “Just- just look at me for a sec.”   
John heard a thump, and then a heavier thump on the floor.   
Bro was then at Dave’s side. “I just knocked him out. I’ll talk to him later. You two can have a strife tomorrow. I’ll even invite the whole pack.” He began to gently clean the blood with a warm cloth. How did Bro get it? Were there more members of the pack? Who are the members? John felt dizzy, closing his eyes slowly. As soon as he closed them, he passed out. 

When John opened his eyes, he had to blink a few times to get rid of the blurriness. He then realised that he didn’t have his glasses on, which explained the blurriness that didn’t seem to go away no matter how many times he had blinked. John reached out an arm, searching for his glasses. His hand bumped a hard surface - a table - and felt along the cold glass. It only took him five seconds to locate them, and he slid them on his face, the world suddenly getting clearer. He sat up on the couch that he was lying on, looking around. He was surrounded by familiar furniture and decorations. He was at his house. A strange sensation was at his neck, John reaching up to touch it and finding out that it was a bandage. This made John wonder how he had gotten back home after being at the Striders’. He sighed as he remembered having sex and bonding with Dave, and then being bitten by Dirk. John lifted his head up as he heard voices in the next room. He quickly identified the low muffled voice of his father, who didn’t have a level tone at all. The next voice he recognised was another low voice, which belonged to Bro Strider. Small flashes of the other voices in the conversation turned out to be Dirk and Dave, who obviously knew their place and weren’t talking as much. When John did hear them speak, they trailed off into silence each time, as if they were being glared at or not listened to. John spent some time trying to listen to the current conversation, which seemed to be the topic of John Egbert. He heard mentions of ‘sex’, ‘irresponsibility’, ‘eighteen’, ‘problem’, and ‘how can I calm down?’ which was followed closely by ‘at least he’s not pregnant’.   
John sighed and decided he should go calm his dad down. As soon as he stood up, he was met by a small dizzy spell. He grabbed the couch to steady himself as he recovered. He closed his eyes, breathing steadily, then opening his eyes once he felt alright. 

John began to make his way downstairs to the living room, where the voices seemed to come from. He was correct in guessing where the voices were as all four males were there. All eyes were on him as he walked into the room. His dad was standing, his arms crossed. Bro was at his side, his back previously to the doorway. In front of his father was the younger Striders, who were sitting on the couch, looking almost ashamed.   
“Uh, hey,” John said quietly, standing near the doorway.   
Bro nodded in a greeting. “How’re you feeling?”   
“I’m alright, I suppose,” John shrugged lightly. “But uh, what’s all the fuss about?”   
“John,” his father was the one to speak first, his voice a low rumble. “Do you know what has happened?”   
John decided to go for the innocent routine. “Um, no?”   
His father sighed. “Son. You have submitted to David-”  
“It’s uh, Dave really, I prefer to be called Dave….” Dave spoke up, quickly silenced by Bro’s stares.   
“-Dave, and Dirk has decided to dominated you.”   
“It’s hard to tell with all the blood and the bandage on his neck.” Bro shrugged. “You’re probably not even Dirk’s bitch. He most likely missed, with him being drunk off his ass.”   
“Derek, I won’t have that language in my house,” his father reprimanded.   
“Your ban of the fine art of foul language didn’t do shit to prevent such language coming from John’s mouth last night.” Bro replied.   
His father looked slightly confused. “What do you-”  
“I mean,” Bro put on a higher voice, “‘Fuck me, Dave! Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck! Harder Dave, oh God fuck!’ Just that.”   
John and Dave both turned red at the same time. They didn’t think that Bro had heard.   
His father still looked confused.   
“John and Dave had sex last night.”   
John’s father looked at John, who had covered his red face with his hands.   
“Aw, look, he’s all shy.” Bro said teasingly.   
“John!” his father looked shocked.   
“C-can we talk about if Dirk dominated me or what!” John shook his head quickly in embarrassment.   
“We’ll talk about your antics later, son.”   
“Anyway, first let’s do some tests to see if Dirk marked John.” Bro nodded to Dirk.   
“John, sit on my lap.” was all Dirk said.   
John’s first reaction was: haha no thanks I’m fine by the door. Then his second reaction was: oh man, that lap really looks inviting. John moved towards Dirk slowly, almost as if he was being pulled by an invisible string. He promptly sat down on Dirk’s warm lap, feeling almost satisfied.   
There was a silence that was eventually broke by Bro.   
“Well, now we know he’s dominated.”   
“Can Dirk order me around now?” John asked.   
Bro nodded. “Those dominated have to follow orders without failure, even if they want to or if they don’t.” he turned to John’s father. “James, kiss me.”   
John’s jaw was wide open as he watched his dad go over to Bro and kiss him. They kept kissing and Bro’s hands started kneading at his father’s ass. Bro then broke apart, but not before biting his father’s lower lip.   
John was almost speechless. “A-are you two together?”   
Bro raised his eyebrows. “You haven’t told him about us, James?”   
“Why would I?”   
Something in John’s mind clicked. “Is this why you sometimes go out after I have a disagreement with them? To see Bro?”   
“You’re so oblivious, babe,” Dave murmured, pulling John into his lap, his arms going around the omega’s waist.  “What do we do then if I belong to Dave and Dirk?” John questioned.   
“I guess they have to share you until we find a way out of this.” his father said. “As long as you’re with them, they can’t let you go. It’s just something about omegas. It’s difficult to break a relationship with an omega. Which reminds me, John, did you and Dave bond?”  John and Dave nodded slowly.   
“I assume Dirk hasn’t bonded with you though.”   
“God, just say knot instead,” Bro groaned.   
John’s father refused.   
“So we get to share the twink?” Dirk asked. Bro nodded. “John, kiss me.”   
Now it was Dave and James’ turn to watch with their jaws open. They watched John kiss Dirk, who immediately shoved his tongue into John’s mouth. John reacted positively, purring and moaning. When Dirk’s hand went to slip into John’s pants, Dave pulled John back to him. Dirk sat back, licking his lips.   
John’s father looked like he was about to yell. Bro noticed.  “James. Bedroom. Now.”   
His father nodded wearily, following Bro out. Which left the three of them alone.   
“I guess we’re sharing now,” Dirk smirked.   
Dave ignored him and started to pepper John’s face in light kisses. “Don’t listen to him, John. It’s just the two of us. Just us.”   
John nuzzled Dave back.   
“Yeah, but you can’t order him around.”  “That’s because I believe in consent.”   
“I”m sure that’s what you believed in when you dominated Karkat.”   
John resisted the urge to shout out “SAVAGE!”.   
“Yo, kitten,” Dirk’s voice had a grin in it. “suck my dick.”   
“No!” Dave tried to keep John away, but he was already kneeling in front of Dirk, unzipping his pants.  “Good kitten,” Dirk praised.   
“Dirk! His father is here!” Dave protested.   
“So?” Dirk shrugged as John worked off his jeans and briefs off. “It isn’t like he and Bro are banging right now.”   
“Daaaaaave, he’s bigger than you,” John called from the floor, his voice almost dream-like.   
Dave turned red again as Dirk petted John’s hair. An average alpha was about nine to eleven inches apparently. Although, John mused, Dirk was close to ten. Another thing John noticed, apart from size, was the piercing through the head. It reminded him to give Dave the late Christmas present.   
“Feel free to do anything you want, kitten,” Dirk urged. “Just mind those teeth.”  John nuzzled Dirk’s inner thigh as he gripped the cock. There was no way he could fit it all in his mouth. He started to lick and suck at the piercing, getting praises from Dirk. Dave covered his ears and shut his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, John had sticky white come all on his face and some on his shirt. Dirk’s head was lolled back as he panted.   
“Go clean up, kitten,” he ordered, out of breath.   
John stood up, silently heading to the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, was that a chapter that was released before the three-day break? 
> 
> Anyway, this concludes the first part. Hopefully the second part will have more information about the whole AU, and more porn. Hopefully.


	8. Chapter Eight

"You've got yourself in quite a predicament,” Rose observed, humming softly.   
It was a week after Christmas, and Rose had invited herself over to the Strider home. She was part of the Strider/Lalonde pack, and John had only found that out when she showed up to watch Dirk and Dave strife. She was also the one who informed John’s father that it was probably best if John stayed with the Striders. Rose was the one who was studying the alpha/beta/omega world, and was the main information source. John didn’t know what he would do without Rose. She seemed to know an awful lot about almost everything. It was expected though; Rose was a beta with a thirst for knowledge of strange, mysterious things.   
“I know, I know,” John nodded. “But it isn’t entirely my fault.”   
She pursed her black painted lips with another soft hum. “Perhaps. In any case, it was quite surprising to fid out that you were the one to blame for the cause of the strife. It was also surprising to see Dave win. My sister had bet on Dirk winning.”   
Rose had an older sister called Roxy, a blonde beta who used to have a thing for Dirk. When she found out he was gay, she went on to find herself a girlfriend. She and Dirk still remained friends. John had only seen Roxy a few times, but she always had a cat with her. Rose had predicted that if Roxy ended up alone, she would become a crazy old cat lady.  
“It wasn’t really my fault,” John weakly argued back.   
Rose shrugged one shoulder lightly, looking around. “This place is cleaner than usual.”   
“They have a maid.” John explained.   
“What room are you currently staying in?” Rose asked, looking back to John.   
“I’m sleeping in Dave’s room because I submitted to him out of consent.” John told her.   
Rose’s observant eyes drifted to John’s neck, where a leather collar lay. “Was this Dirk’s doing?”   
John nodded.   
Her eyebrows furrowed together slightly. “I see.”   
John was glad Dirk took off the silver round take that said ‘Daddy’s kitten’; otherwise he wouldn’t know how Rose would react. John only had the tag ono when it was Dirk’s turn to have him, which was only on Mondays and Saturdays. Dave had him the other days except Sunday, where John could be with anyone he chose. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t like the current arrangement, but it was necessary to keep everything from spiralling into chaos.   
“Anyway, anything else?” John asked, fiddling with his collar now that Rose had alerted him to its presence.   
“No, that was it,” Rose stood up from the chair. “I’ll have to pay your father a visit later to discuss what I have learnt about bonds.”   
“See you later,” John waved as she smiled and left the complex gracefully. Her visits were always so short.   
As soon as she left, Dave was behind John. “Come snuggle with me, babe,” he slipped his arms around John, resting them on his chest. John tipped his head back to see him. Dave was wearing the girly septum piercing John had gone him. Dave leant down and kissed him softly.   
“I’ll come if you can promise me we’ll watch Netflix.” John told him, wriggling out of Dave’s loose grip. He stood in front of him, his fingers going back to the collar. He knew Dave disliked the collar, but it hid the mark that Dirk had made, so Dave didn’t hate it as much.   
“We’ll chill as well,” Dave wrapped his arms around his omega’s waist.   
“No chill,” John told him. Dave pouted. “Maybe after Con Air.”   
“You’re such a dork who enjoys mediocre movies by an actor who is only famous ironically because he stars in so many mediocre movies.” Dave nuzzled John’s nose as he giggled. He quickly swooped John up bridal style, making John gasp in surprise. They went to Dave’s room, no, their room, John corrected himself. Dave threw John onto the bed playfully, getting on top of him and kissing his face.   
John pushed him away, giggling. He reached for the laptop. “Are you ready for Con Air?” he typed in Dave’s password and opened Netflix.   
“I’m never ready.” Dave brought the warm duvet around them. “But for you, I’ll pretend I am.”   
John nuzzled Dave. “Such a romantic.” he typed in ‘Con Air’ and waited.   
“You know it, babe,” Dave started to kiss John’s ear. John squirmed in delight, clicking on the movie. Dave reached over and paused it, wrapping the duvet around them fully, laying back. He then brought the laptop closer. He clicked play, and the movie started.   
Halfway through the movie, Dave started to get bored. When he got bored, he got frisky. He slipped his cold hands up John’s sweater, inching upwards overtime Nic Cage spoke. John squirmed again, and after ten minutes, Dave’s hands were at his nipples. And they were still bloody cold.   
“Daaaave~” John whined softly.   
“Shh,” Dave whispered. “Just focus on the awful mediocre movie, babe.”   
“It isn’t awful,” John protested.   
“Shh,” Dave repeated, tweaking on his left nipple. John gasped silently, a shiver going down his spine. He cursed himself silently for having such sensitive nipples. Dave kept tweaking an pulling at the pert nipples. John was sure that they were red, or a darkening pink. This seemed to occupy Dave for a few minutes, before he got bored of just fondling his nipples apparently. Dave went under John’s shirt, placing his mouth on the left. John paused the movie and bit his lips, trying not to make noises. He didn’t know if the other Striders were still home. Then Dave started to bite and suck. John panted softly, moving the laptop to the bedside table. Dave moved to the right, doing the same. When he was done, he emerged out from under John’s shirt.   
“Has the movie finished?”   
John shook his head. “Let’s chill early.”   
“I’m not complaining with that notion,” Dave pulled off his shirt. He moved the blankets off, and he straddled John’s waist. John reached his hands up to trace around Dave’s muscular, but slender body. “Hey babe, what if I got a tattoo?”   
John didn’t pause. “What of?”  
“Like a cog. Over here.” Dave moved John’s hand over to his heart. “A real fancy-ass one.” “I think it’ll look sexy,” John murmured, starting to draw a cog with his index finger. “I want one as well, if you’re getting one. Or a piercing.”   
Dave raised his eyebrows. “You sure? It’s a life-long thing. Plus, it’ll probably hurt a lot on a cutie like you.”   
John shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”  Dave leant down and kissed him softly. “Now, where were we?”   
“You were about to give me the chill that you were waiting for,” John answered, looping his arms around Dave’s neck, bringing him closer.   
“You’re so clever, babe,” Dave whispered, brushing his lips against John’s. 

John opened his eyes, feeling Dave press against him and spooning him. They were both naked and slightly sticky. That either meant that they had a shower then slept in the messy bed, or they didn’t have a shower at all. Going by the weird sensation in John’s asshole, the latter was much closer to the truth. He wriggled out of the loose grip, making his way to the shower. When he cleaned himself up, he exited and pulled on some clean clothes. As John was getting dressed, Dave started to stir.   
“Morning, Dave,” John said cheerfully, going over to kiss his forehead.   
“Mm, morning,” Dave replied sleepily back. “I can’t believe you left me in soiled sheets whilst you had a cleansing shower.”  “You better change those soiled sheets then,” John smiled. “I smell food. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”  Dave nodded. “I’m just going to go have a shower and change the sheets then I’ll be there.”  John wasn’t sure if Dave would be there anytime soon because he had promptly rolled over and snuggled into the nearest pillow


	9. Chapter Nine

John sat down at one of the many bench stools, breakfast laid out in front of the four stools, each with different drinks. Dave’s seat next to John had apple juice, Dirk’s seat on the other side of John had orange juice. John and Bro both had water. John began eating; there was no point in waiting for the other Striders. Each one got up at different times, and there was no certainty that they would even eat together as a pack. Dirk was the first one of the Striders to get out of bed. He took a seat beside John. Before he started to eat, he clipped the tag to John’s collar. It was Saturday. Instantly, he felt more submissive than usual, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Dirk nodded in approval, now starting to eat. Every time John moved, the tag would make a soft clicking noise. Dave was next to enter the kitchen. He caught sight of the tag in disgust. He hated the tag more than the collar. He took his place next to John and started eating silently. Meals were usually always had in silence. When Dave was finished, he promptly left, giving the two space. John finished a few minutes after, moving to make his way to clean up.  
“Stay seated until I finish,” was Dirk’s order. John nodded and stayed seated, even though he really didn’t have a choice. Dirk drank the rest of his juice, setting the glass down. “I’ve got a plan for today, kitten.”  
Usually on Dirk’s day, he and John just made out. Dirk had never gone as far as having sex, or bonding with John. He knew where he stood, and it wasn’t the place where Dave was to John.  
“What is it?”  
Dirk smiled. “We’re going on a date to get you something.”  
John looked surprised. “A date?”  
They had never been on a date before, mainly because Dirk was close to thirty.  
Dirk nodded. “I overhear you tellin’ Dave that you want a tattoo and piercing. I can take you to get one, if you want.”  
John got excited. He really wanted to fit in with the others. Since he was owned by two of the Striders, technically he was a Strider himself. Once he bonds with Dirk, he’ll be a proper Strider, and not an Egbert anymore. “Yes, please!”  
“Of course. How could I say ‘no’ to you? Do you want to get dressed and go right away?”  
John nodded, going to do what he said. It wasn’t even an order, but it sort of was. Just not the mind-controlling domination type. Dirk seemed to be refraining from using the mind-controlling domination type orders, John had noticed.

John and Dirk had managed to get out of the complex without too many questions asked. A very sleepy Bro had shuffled out of his room just as they were leaving, giving them a nod as he began eating.  
Dirk pulled up in front of a clean-looking building. “We’re here, kitten.”  
The front of the building had large posters showing various and intricate tattoo designs, and colourful, shiny piercing choices. The models all looked like they had come out of 2008, but other than that, the building looked neat.  
John pointed to a piercing when they got closer to the posters. “I like that one.” It was a blue crystal piercing, but John didn’t know where that specific one went.  
“Matches your eyes, sweetie.” Dirk pushed open the door and a small bell announced their arrival with a little chime. “Hey, Porrim.” He went up to the front desk, where an elegant lady sat. Her dark wavy hair was brushed to one side, showing a row of piercings up her ear. A gold nose ring, lip ring, and an eyebrow piercing adorned her face. When she, Porrim, raised her hand in a greeting, John could see swirly black tattoos up her arms.  “Long time no see, Dirk,” Porrim stood up. Dirk walked closer, John behind him. “I see you’ve got a new one.”  
He nodded. “His name’s John, and he’s here for a tattoo and a piercing.”  
“And here I thought you wanted some more metal, Dirk.” Porrim leant over the desk to peer at John. She was wearing a low-cut dress. “What’s that on your collar? ‘Daddy’s kitten’. Fascinating.”  
“I actually might get another piercing while I’m here.” Dirk said.  
Porrim looked at him. “You do realise that normal people have to book appointments? You’re lucky you’re such a valued customer. I’ll do you two myself. Follow me.” Porrim stepped out from behind the desk and and beckoned them to follow her.  
“Porrim has done every one of my piercings, even the one down there,” Dirk told John as they walked into a bright white room. “She’s also done most of my tattoos.”  
John nodded. Dirk’s tattoos were really cool. One was at the base of his neck, which looked like a heart sliced in two. He had a ridiculous-looking face thing on his upper arm, and a small rainbow flag behind his right ear. Dirk probably had more, but John hasn’t seen them yet. Dirk had more piercings than tattoos though. John liked all the piercings. Porrim went over to a small bookcase and took out two large folders. She sat down on the couch, Dirk and John following. Dirk sat down next to her, pulling John onto his lap.  
“What were you thinking?” Porrim asked.  John thought back to when Dave was showing him the photos. “Maybe a cloud?”  
Porrim flipped open the second folder, turning to a double page of sky designs that included clouds, suns, moons, stars, and zodiac constellations. “You can pick from here.”  John had a quick scan through. “I like this one.” he pointed to a wispy-looking cloud. It looked dreamy and careless.  
“Nice.” Porrim nodded, taking the sheet out, marking the cloud. “Let’s talk piercings now.” she stood up. “I’ll be back, I’m just going to get the folder.” She walked out of the room, her high heels tapping loudly.  
“I think,” Dirk’s hands pulled John’s shirt up a bit. “a belly piercing would be perfect.”  
John giggled quietly as Dirk began to tickle him. “W-what piercing are you getting?” he asked between giggles.  
“Maybe nipple piercings,” Dirk started to kiss his neck lightly. “Warn fuckers to stay away. Hate nipple play.”  
“I l-like it,” John piped up, and Dirk tickled him more.  
“Ahem.”  
They both looked up to see Porrim standing there with a slight smile on her face.  
“Just a loving tickle fight.” Dirk said, his voice a monotone.  
Porrim simply nodded. “Have you got any ideas for piercings?”  
“My kitten needs a belly piercing,” Dirk told her. “I’ve decided on nipple piercings.”  
“Usually the ladies go for the belly,” Porrim shrugged. “What colour?”  
“Blue, please,” John said.  
Porrim nodded. “I’ll do John first, then Dirk. Then I’ll get started on the tattoo.”  
“Sounds good to me,” Dirk kissed John’s earlobe.  
“I’ll go get the piercings.” Porrim said, walking out of the room. A minute later she came back. “I need you to take off your shirt, John, and lay down on the chair back-first.”  
Dirk helped John take off his shirt, and John sat in the chair, laying back. It was very quick and painless, and a few minutes later, John had the shiny blue belly piercing. It looked very cute and John was happy with it.  
“Dirk, shirt off. You know the drill.” She said, taking up the piercings. “Y’know, sometimes I think you just want me to see you on purpose.”  
“Pff, nah,” Dirk pulled off his shirt, and he and John swapped seats. “I mean, I might’ve wanted you to see my dick.”  
Porrim rolled his eyes. “It’s impressive, but I’ve seen better. Now let me give you more metal.”  
The two continued their friendly banter until Dirk was finished. He sat up, stretching. John could see the new metal shine in the bright light of the room.  “Ready for the tattoo?” Porrim asked, readying the equipment.  
John nodded. As he stood up to lay on the flat chair, Dirk slapped his ass. “Dirk!”  
“Need me to hold your hand?” Dirk asked, not mockingly. Despite John shaking his head, Dirk pulled a chair up next to John.  
“Behave yourself, Dirk,” Porrim told him, sitting on the opposite side. “I’m just going to stencil the design on now, John.”  
He nodded, feeling Porrim move to get things. He felt something cold on his back. Porrim then shaved the fine hairs on the area where the tattoo would go. More cold liquid, John wasn’t sure what it was. It all felt exciting, and John wasn’t too nervous. Porrim sprayed something onto the small of his back, placing the stencil on it. She pressed gently, then slowly peeled it off.  
“This where he wants it?” Porrim asked Dirk.   
 “Mm, yes, exactly.” Dirk replied.    
“Okay good. I’ll start inking now.” Porrim did a few things, then said, “you ready?”  
John nodded.  
“You sure you don’t need me to hold your hand?” Dirk asked, holding his hand out.  
John turned to face him. “No, I don’t need to.”  
As soon as Porrim pressed the needle to the skin, John’s hand shot out and grabbed onto Dirk’s hand. Dirk chuckled under the sound of the needle. Initially, it was a shock, but John soon got used to the sensation. The pricks were more of an annoyance, rather than pain. After a long time, Porrim announced it was finished. Dirk took a photo and showed John.  
“It’s so cool!” John exclaimed. “Thank you, Porrim.”  
“My pleasure,” she nodded. “Dirk, do you want to pay now, or when you get home?”  
“I’ll transfer the money when I can,” he told her.  
“John, no showers for twelve hours, and no sex for forty. Dirk’ll show you everything else.”  
They both waved to Porrim as they felt the room and building. Dirk tossed John his shirt, who pulled it on.  
“Do you want to go back?” Dirk asked, starting up the car. “Or do you want to go anywhere else?”  
John shook his head. “Let’s go home. We’ll get there in time for dinner.”  
 

They did indeed get back in time for dinner. Their dinner was on two plates, waiting for them. The two other Striders were probably in their rooms already, eating. Dirk took John’s tag off and placed it on the bench. John took up his plate and kissed Dirk.  
“Thanks for the day,” John said.  
Dirk shrugged. “It was nothing really, but I’m glad you liked it.”  “You have to let me look closer at your new piercings sometime.”  “Maybe tomorrow, if you’re willing to have me.”  
“Maybe.” John kissed him again, then made his way to Dave’s room.  
Dave was in bed with his laptop in front of him, his empty dinner plate on his desk. He looked up when John came in. “Hey babe, what did you get up to?”  “I got a tattoo and a piercing today,” John told him, grinning.   
 Dave’s face was unreadable. “Let’s see it.”  
John pulled up his shirt to show off the piercing first. Then he showed him the cool cloud on his back.  
“Cool.” was all Dave said, and he went back to his laptop. John sat down at the desk and started eating. He must be busy. Still, a little more enthusiasm wouldn’t hurt. Dave could’ve at least said something in a tone that actually had emotion. John finished his dinner a bit later and neatly stacked it on top of the other plate. He took off his shirt and jeans, crawling into bed next to Dave. He rested his head on his shoulder, looking at the screen. “Who’re you talking to?”   
 “Karkat,” Dave typed back a reply, red lines of text mixing with the large grey lines of text. “I need to drive him to the club tomorrow.”    
“Can’t he drive himself?” John whined, nuzzling Dave. “What time are you picking him up?”  
“Karkat needs to be there at ten am, and I might as well stay there because I DJ at eight pm.”  
John sighed softly. “Alright.” he closed his eyes, snuggling into Dave’s side. He tried to fall asleep, but the keyboard noise kept him awake. After fifteen minutes, John sat up and walked to the door.  
“Where’re you going?” Dave asked, not taking his eyes off the screen.   
 “Dirk’s room,” John didn’t wait for an answer as he made his way to Dirk’s room. Once he got inside, he crawled in next to Dirk, nuzzling against him.  
“What’re you doing?” Dirk rolled over to face John. His voice was slight hoarse; he probably just woke up.  
“Sleeping here,” John replied. He could see the shiny new metal even in the darkness.  
Dirk sighed. “Roll over.” John did, and he curled around him, spooning him. “G’night.”  
“Night,” John could feel all the piercings Dirk had on his front. It sort of made him relax. He slowly drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please remember that I've never gotten a tattoo before, so I had to read some of my books that had mentions of tattoos in them to understand a little bit of it.


	10. Chapter Ten

John woke up reluctantly, but glad for the warm body that was curled around him. John closed his eyes and listened to Dirk’s even breathing. The two might not have gotten off to a good start, but Dirk had been trying to apologise in his own way. The two bad times were because of alcohol, so John was quick to forgive. After all, he was a nice guy and what’s done is done. Even if John was quick to forgive, Dirk couldn’t accept the forgiveness just yet, or quite as quick as John was to forgive. Dirk kept his distance on days that Dave was with John, staying in his room or going out for the whole day and half the night. On the days where he was allowed to be with John, he limited himself to light, quick kisses, and brushes against John’s skin. Two days into ‘John sharing plan’, Dirk had gotten into a rut, and instead of following his instincts, he had locked himself in his room, not even talking to Bro. Dave had told John how painful a rut could be. It was like ‘being denied to let go, but a thousand times worse’, which were Dave’s almost exact words. John wondered how Dirk managed to get through it. Anyway, this was the closest the two had gotten for long time, the last time being when John was nine and they were cuddling in a fort with Dave. It was nice and cosy. John decided he liked sleeping next to Dirk. He lifted his head, trying to read the clock, but he had left his glasses in Dave’s room. He could hear the quiet hum of the sewing machine in the other room, so Bro must be up, which meant it was about ten-thirty. Dirk stirred, and John could feel him sigh quietly. Dirk got out of the bed, leaving John slightly cold. Dirk arranged the blankets over John before getting dressed. John heard the door open and close. He sat up. The room was empty. Yet again, Dirk was distancing himself from John, even though they just slept in the same bed. Dave would usually make out with John before leaving, but his morning he didn’t even kiss or anything. John knew that Dirk was still kind of feeling guilty over what happened, but John had needs as well. John has had cravings for both of them, and Dirk’s distance was wearing him down. John lay back down on the bed. It was like Dirk has had a personality change. He used to be this arrogant, smirky alpha, but now he was quiet and was keeping to himself. John was sick of it. Even if this whole situation has been running for less than two weeks. John sighed and got out of Dirk’s bed, wondering how he was going to spend his Sunday. 

“Hey Dirk, what’s that kids’ cartoon you enjoy watching?” John asked. He was currently on his phone, watching Dirk hand-sew a blue puppet-thing.   
“My Little Pony,” Dirk replied, not looking up from what he was doing.   
“Do you want to watching it with me now?”   
That made Dirk look up. “What, right at this very second?”   
John nodded. He wanted to try and close the distance between them.   
“You have to wear one of my pony onesies and we’ll start from episode one. Not the old one, but the new one.” Dirk stood up quickly, packing everything away.   
John first thought that closing the distance would be hard, but apparently not. MLP solves everything, John thought as he followed Dirk into his room. Dirk went to the closet and pulled out two onesies.   
He looked John up and down. “You can be Pinkie Pie because Rainbow Dash is the best pony.” he tossed John the pink one, and he put it one, tossing his other clothes to one corner of the room. Dirk sat on the bed, onesie on, and patting the space next to him. John sat down, watching Dirk type in ‘kisscartoon’, then searching up ‘My Little Pony’ and then clicking on it. John frowned slightly; as Dirk settled down, he was giving him unnecessary space. In many cases, space is a good thing, but not right now.   
John reached out and stopped the episode. “Dirk. I’ll only watch this if you cuddle with me.”   
Dirk hesitated. “But what if I…”   
John sighed loudly. He moved closer to Dirk and wrapped his arms around his fluffy blue middle. “You won’t do anything.” John pressed play again, and the obnoxious theme song started. At the sound of the song, Dirk began to relax, hugging John back. Three episodes later, they were fully snuggling, John on Dirk’s lap, and Dirk’s chin resting on his shoulder and his arms around John. John actually liked how it all turned out. He was snuggling with Dirk dressed as ponies, and he found himself even enjoying the show. It was a perfect way to spend a Sunday, If their marathon went for a while, John might have to sleep with Dirk again, and maybe in the pony onesies. The Pinkie Pie one was too big for him, and was clearly made for Dirk’s size, but it smelled like Dirk, so John wasn’t complaining. A season later, they both heard the door open. Dirk checked the time: eleven-thirty-two pm.   
“Dave must be home,” Dirk told John. “You should better go sleep with him now.”   
 John shook his head. “One more episode.” he clicked to go onto the next episode and the obnoxious theme song that he was starting to get used to began to play.   
“You’ve contracted the ‘one more episode’ virus,” Dirk whispered teasingly in his ear. “And from MLP, too.”   
“Shhhhhh, I want to watch,” John giggled.   
Someone opened the door and peeked in. It was Dave.   
“You’re introducing him to that annoying show?” Dave said in disbelief. “John, wanna come with me?”  John didn’t take his eyes off of the screen. “Nah, we’ve just started a new episode, and I want to see what happens.”   
Dave was silent for a bit. “Yeah, sure. Just come when you’re ready.”   
The door shut, and Dave was gone. John snuggled back into Dirk, watching the colourful show intently. After that episode, John yawned and Dirk checked the time again: four past twelve. Dirk closed his laptop, shifting it to the ground. He lay back, bringing John with him.   
“You should go to Dave, now.” Dirk said softly.   
John shook his head. “I want to sleep next to you tonight.” he rolled over to Dirk’s side, nuzzling his chest and bringing his arms and legs around him. “And I want you to stop distancing yourself from me. I have needs too.”   
Dirk sighed and nodded. “I just don’t want to hurt you.”    
“I know.” John shut his eyes. “Good night, Dirk.”   
 He drew a blanket over them. “Night.”   
John heard Dirk placing his shades on the bedside table, and felt him gently slide off his glasses to join the shades. John snuggled closer and they both drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is such a short chapter everyone!


	11. Chapter Eleven

John woke up again to the sound of the sewing machine; Bro must have a big order to finish. He rolled over and laid his arm on top of Dirk’s waist. Dirk groaned and scooped John up onto him. John nuzzled under his chin, a hand coming up to stroke his black hair. John let his eyes drift over to the bedside table; there was a note on it, next to the glasses: ‘turntable difficulties ill be back later and well watch a nic cage movie together’.  
John smiled at the red scrawl. “He still doesn’t know how to use punctuation.”  
Under him, Dirk opened his eyes. “Who’re you talking about?”  
“Dave.”  
Dirk kissed John’s chin. “What part of his legacy did he leave behind?”  
“Just a messy note that said he’d be back tonight.” John told him. “Turntable difficulties.”  
“Didn’t he get them fixed two weeks ago?” Dirk asked, still kissing John’s chin lightly.  
“Maybe there’s apple juice in them from last time.” John suggested.  
“Then I guess I have you for the day until Dave gets back.”  
John put the note on the bedside table and shifted his head to look down at him. Dirk kissed him quickly.  
“Want to get some food?” he asked, John nodding. Dirk sat up, and John slid down onto his lap smoothly. “Then what do you want to do next?”  
 “I want to see your new piercings,” John ran his hands over Dirk’s chest. They were both still wearing the pony onesies. John couldn’t feel anything under the fluff, but it made him want to see the piercings a whole lot more.  
“Only if I can get you in some clothes that show off your new stuff,” Dirk replied.  
John nodded. “After food.”  
“Obviously.” 

 The clothes were probably bought at a store for females. John expected a crop top, after all, that was the only type of shirt that showed off his tattoo and piercing. John just didn’t expect a full outfit. Dirk had a full set of clothes laid out on the bed, all having the same pastel blue colour theme.  
“I’m not wearing all of that.” John said.  
Dirk came up behind him. “Then I guess you can’t see my piercings.”  
John weighed his options. He could wear the outfit and see the piercings, or miss out. He glanced at the outfit. Then again, Dave was out, and Bro would be in his room the whole day. Besides, they would just be in Dirk’s room, right? John gave in. “Alright.”  
Immediately, Dirk came around to John’s front and started to unbutton his onesie. He slid it off, and John stepped out of it. Dirk carefully folded the article of clothing, placing it on the bed. John sat down on the edge of the bed, feeling slightly cold. It was January, but it was still a bit chilly. As soon as Dirk came closer, John started on the white buttons of his onesie. The piercings became visible after the third button, and Dirk was relaxed and letting him undo his onesie. Four buttons down and it became obvious that he wasn’t wearing anything under the blue fluff. Dirk stepped out of the onesie like John had, and John was trying not to focus on the alpha-sized length that Dirk was sporting. It was hard not to. Dirk was twice the size of John, it would seem. Bigger than Dave. Of course, John had given Dirk a blow job before, but that memory was really fuzzy because Dirk had ordered him to. Regardless, it was big and long, and hard to look away from. John sure hoped that he still had some growing to do, even if he wouldn’t be the same size as the Striders.  
“You done starin’?” Dirk asked, jolting John out of his thoughts. John’s eyes snapped to Dirk’s, which were covered by the pointy shades. He nodded slowly, keeping his eyes on his face. “Good boy.” Dirk bent down in front of John and started to pull his boxers off.  
 “What are you doing?” John asked, flustered and growing red.  
“You’re going to be wearing shorts, and you’ll see the blue if you keep them on.” Dirk explained, tugging them off fully. “Cute.”  
John blushed. “T-thanks.”    
Dirk nodded, tossing John’s underwear to the side. John bit his lip, smiling. He drew his arms around Dirk’s neck, dragging him down to kiss him. Their lips met each other softly, and something seemed to click in Dirk’s mind. He pressed his knee onto the bed, pushing John down on his back. John topped his head to the side, coaxing Dirk to not be so gently. When he opened his mouth slightly, he was rewarded. Dirk opened his mouth, their tongues coming together in a hot heated kiss.  
“I’m going out on a date, kids.”  
The two broke apart to see Bro Strider at Dirk’s door. With a squeak, John hid himself under Dirk, trying to cover himself up.  
“Do you fucking mind?” Dirk hissed at Bro, who was observing the two on the bed.  
“Not really.” he shrugged. He leaned forward a bit. “Is that really your size, John? Damn, that’s small.”  
John squeaked again, covering his heated face.  
“What do you want?” Dirk asked, sitting up. The Striders obviously weren’t shy, or maybe it was a dominance thing. In any case, John wasn’t comfortable in showing everything to anyone!  
“I’m just telling you two that I’m going on a date with John’s hot dad, and there’s food if you need it.”  
 “Leave.”  
At Dirk’s command, Bro shrugged, then quickly left. Dirk sighed, leaning over John again, John uncovered his face, looking up at him.  
“Sorry. We should’ve shut the door.” Dirk apologised.  John shook his head.  
“It wouldn’t have stopped him.” His arms returned around Dirk’s neck. “At least we know he’s out of the house for a while.”  
Dirk nodded. His lips brushed against John’s as he leant down. His right hand toyed with John’s belly piercing as the left steadied himself as he lifted his other knee onto the bed. His knees were on either side of John, his length touching between John’s thighs, making him shiver as he played with the blond’s hair. John seemed to bite back a moan when Dirk began sucking on his tongue. One of the alpha’s hands trailed down between John’s legs, the other still on his belly piercing. John began to make quiet noises as he felt the metal on his tongue and the hand between his legs.  
“You don’t have to be quiet,” Dirk lowly told him, breaking from John’s lips.  
“What if someone hears?” John asked in a slightly shaky voice.    
“Bro won’t be back until tomorrow I’m guessing, and Dave’ll be back at nine because the store closes at eight-thirty,” Dirk told him. “Only I’ll hear you.”    
“Are you sure?” the shakiness in his voice increased as Dirk began to use his hands more.  
“Of course I’m sure,” he said in a smooth, relaxing voice.  
“Will you bond with me today?” John suddenly asked, hopeful. The hand movements only ceased for a second, before going back to moving.  
“I’m not sure.”  
“Why not?” John frowned a bit. He played with the studs and gauges on Dirk’s ears.  
“It’ll make me uncomfortable.”  
John tipped his head to the side in confusion.    
“You may not smell it, but you smell like Dave. Citrus and apple. It means that you’ve bonded with him. I can’t bond with you.”  
 “But Rose says you can bond with more than one person at a time.” John protested, fiddling with the gauges.  
“You don’t get the point. I can’t bond with you because you smell like my brother.”  
 “Oh.” John blinked. “Is that it?”  
Dirk raised his eyebrows. “Yeah. It’s like I’m going to bond with Dave. It’s weird.”  
So that was the reason. It wasn’t because Dirk felt guilty or anything, it was just because John smelled like Dave. No amount of My Little Pony episodes could bring them close. John wriggled out from under Dirk and exited the room before Dirk could say anything. So he couldn’t sleep with Dirk because he smelt like Dave, huh? Was that it? At least it wasn’t about how small he is… 

John entered Dave’s room ad started to pull on any article of clothing that was close to him, before he stopped. He got undress again and went to Dave’s closet. He pulled out the clothes that smelt most like Dave, and the ones that he wore frequently. John pulled the clothes on, going to sit in front of the screen in the living room. How about that for smelling like Dave? After five minutes of flicking through the channels, Dirk hadn’t come out of his room. John grumbled. There was no point trying to provoke him if he wouldn’t even come out of his room. John left a trashy reality show on, leaning over to the table and getting his phone. He began texting Dave to relieve both of them from boredom. After all, how interesting could it be to just wait for your turntables to be repaired?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've realised that AO3 shifts the character's speaking lines up because I used Pages and not AO3 to write the chapters on. I swear I know the 'new speaker, new line' rule!  
> Example:  
> "Hey," Dave said.  
> "Hey," John replied  
> -turns into-  
> "Hey," Dave said. "Hey," John replied.  
> -which is really annoying!!- 
> 
> Please leave a comment down if you see one of those mistakes anywhere in the story, and I'll fix it as soon as I can! Or, y'know, leave a comment if you like this story.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOH, did the tags just change??

EB: daaaaaaaave.

EB: i’m bored.

TG: hey there bored im dave

EB: don’t start with the dad jokes before you’re a dad. i’m bored and i’m missing you.

TG: look ill be back at ten for our movie date

EB: doesn’t the store shut at eight-thirty?  
TG: yeah but the owner said my tables are really messed up so im getting them fixed after hours

EB: you better not be late. 

TG: i wont

EB: promise?  
TG: i promise. 

EB: you’ve finally accepted the way of punctuation??  
TG: no that was a typo ive got to go ill see you at ten

John put his phone back on the table beside the sofa, returning his attention to the reality show that that currently playing. “No one cares about your failing marriage, Sandra.” he muttered to the crying woman on the screen. “I can’t believe you can’t see she’s cheating on you, Todd, you oblivious man.” He continued to rant and mutter at the screen, even continuing when the episode was over. He changed the channel, still bored with nothing to do. He couldn’t believe he almost bonded with Dirk. He almost touched the new piercings, but he was distracted by the soft blond hair. Then Dirk told him that he smelled like Dave. John cursed Dirk to a lifetime of being single, even though it probably won’t work. Rose still hadn’t found a way to break up the bonds that involved an omega. Rose must be having an exciting field day with this one, trying to probe into the omega mysteries. Even if Rose did find a way to break the bonds, John would choose to stay with Dave, because obviously Dirk couldn’t handle it, and that would only happen if there was even a bond to break in the first place. And there John was, thinking that he could get closer to Dirk. Nope, he was still that cold, calculating asshole of a Strider that his dad warned him about. Why on Earth did Dirk want him before, but not now? Was it because John smelled like Dave? Bluh, it was so confusing, Now Dirk won’t even come out of his room to socialise, and Dave would be back in ten hours. With nothing else to do, John went on Netflix and began to watch the recent re-made version of Ghostbusters. 

 

Dave came home at ten-thirty. John was still on the couch, watching movies, and Dirk was still in his room. 

“Hey,” Dave said, dumping his phone and keys onto the marble counter. 

“You’re late.” John looked at him, watching Dave sit down next to him. 

Dave kissed his forehead. “I know, and I’m sorry. I went to eat dinner as soon as my tables were fixed.” 

“Oh. Okay.” 

“I’m going to go have a quick shower, then we can watch some movies together,” Dave got up, and stretched. “My clothes look nice on you, by the way.” 

John smiled, watching him leave for the bathroom. He then sighed when Dave went around the corner. He stood up, going over to the fridge. Bro had said there would be food. Nothing there seemed to excite him. He didn’t feel like Chinese, Mexican, or Indian. John shut the fridge door, only just realising how tired he was. He had sat in front of the tv for the whole day. Maybe they should have the movie night another time. John went to the bedroom he shared with Dave and went to the joined bathroom that Dave was in. 

“Can I come in with you?” John asked. “I haven’t had a shower all day.” 

There was a pause. “I was just about to get out.” 

John sighed quietly, looking at the steamed-up mirror beside him. “That’s okay, I’ll have one after you.” He exited the bathroom and went to get a towel from the hall closet. He passed Dirk’s room, glancing inside. Dirk was sleeping, and the clothes John would’ve worn were on the floor with the onesies. What a bad day this was, John thought, pulling out a white towel. He usually used the red one, but the white ones were closer. The red ones were only an inch away, but John couldn’t be bothered to get one. When he went back to the room, Dave was already changed and on his laptop. He looked up when John walked into the room.

“John, I’m really sorry, but something important came up, and I’ve got to sort it out. Is it okay if we have the movie night a bit later tonight?” Dave asked him. 

John shrugged. “Yeah, it’s fine. I’m tired anyway.” He went into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door. He shut the door and got undressed, turning the water on. What a disappointing day. When he got out of the shower, there was a note on the bed: ‘it got a bit wild so im going to sort it out in person’. John groaned and started to get changed. It was eleven pm, and the note didn’t say when Dave was coming back so he shouldn’t stay up. John got into bed and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep. 

It was six in the morning when Dave came back, slipping into bed beside John. John stirred, rolling over to face him, opening his eyes. 

“Sorry, I woke you up,” Dave apologised quietly. 

“S’okay. Where were you?” John asked sleepily. 

“At Karkat’s. His old mate, Gamzee, broke the restraining order and was trying to get into his house,” Dave explained, slinging an arm around John, pulling him closer. 

“Isn’t Gamzee that bartender at the gay club? And didn’t Karkat work with him?” 

Dave nodded. “It’s complicated, let’s just leave it at that. Gamzee wouldn’t leave until about five minutes ago.” 

John nodded and yawned, closing his eyes for the second time that night.

 

It was nine o’clock when John woke up. Dave wasn’t next to him, and there was no note. John got out of bed, his stomach rumbling, demanding food. After yawning a few times, he got out of the room to get food. Bro was at the counter already, eating. It was a rare sight to see him eating outside his room. John went to the fridge and pulled out some Chinese, heating it up in the microwave. 

“Where’s Dave?” asked John. He was met with a shrug.  
“Dave got a call and he left, saying it was important.” Bro replied between bites of his own Chinese food. “Dirk is in the city, if you’re wondering.” 

John turned back to the microwave. “How was the date with my dad?”   
“He’s a good cook.” Bro said. “I like him.”  
Apparently that was all John was going to be told. The microwave beeped, and John almost jumped. He took the container over to the counter, sitting next to Bro. He stood up again, getting a spoon for the steamed rice, then sitting down. 

“You’re gettin’ jumpy,” Bro observed. “And forgetful.” 

“No, I’m not,” John replied. “Just tired and hungry.” He started to eat. 

“So how far did you go with Dirk? You two seemed pretty into it when I popped in.” Bro asked casually. Oh, so it was okay to ask about John’s mate life, but not okay when John asked about Bro’s. 

“We didn’t go very far. We actually went nowhere.” 

“Did I ruin the moment?” 

“No, we didn’t do anything because I smell like Dave.”   
Bro shrugged. “Dirk’ll come around. He’s still adjusting. How was your movie night with Dave?”  
“Non-existent.” John was starting to feel pretty shitty. It was almost as if Bro was asking all the bad questions. “Anyway, that’s enough about my life.” He quickly put the lid on his half-eaten food, putting it back in the fridge, and putting the spoon in the dishwasher. 

“You haven’t eaten it all.” Bro observed. 

“And? I’m not hungry anymore.” John shrugged and went went back to Dave’s bedroom. Dave had skipped two days with him. Three actually, because John was going to spend it with him. John was going to spend it with him. John went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. What could possibly be more important than spending time with his mate?

 

John found out what the important thing was when Dave got home after lunch-time. 

“Karkat’s what?” 

Dave sighed at John. “He’s pregnant. Got a child in him.” 

“How can he, a male, be pregnant?” 

“Betas can get pregnant, regardless of gender. Did you not learn about this at all in school? By the way, don’t stress, omegas can’t have kids because they’re too weak.” Dave looked like he was the one stressing out. 

“I wasn’t stressing out.” he shook his head. He was just adjusting to this new information, and he did not learn about this at school. Maybe because those fan fiction writing girls would have their ultimate yaoi dreams come true. “Who knocked him up?” 

Dave hesitated, brushing back his blonde hair. “Karkat thinks Gamzee did. They did it before Gamzee went wild.” 

“Oh.” John stopped. 

Bro had been watching them for a while, silently. “You gonna help him out, Dave? Support him?” 

Dave nodded. “He can’t work because he’s going to have a kid, and I’m his friend.” His phone beeped, and he went to check it. 

“When I met Karkat, it seemed like he hated Dave.” John said to Bro. 

Bro shook his head. “Nah, those two are closer than they seem.” He watched Dave get up, calling the person who sent the message, probably Karkat. 

John hummed softly. “Yeah. Maybe.” He stood up and went over to the couch, turning on the tv. The tv area seemed to be the comfort zone for John lately. After a few episodes of that reality show that he was starting to actually enjoy, John went to have a shower before dinner.  
Dave was still talking on the phone when John walked into the room. He nodded as a greeting, then focused back on the phone. John didn’t know what to do, so he grabbed the white towel from behind the door. He went into the bathroom, shutting the door. He didn’t lock it, because the last time he did, he slipped over and hit his head, and Dave couldn’t get in to help him. So he keeps it unlocked. John got undressed and turned on the shower. The room quickly got steamy and John figured it was too late to turn on the fan as he stepped into the hot shower. He let the water make his hair wet, and fall down his smooth back. He let the hot water splash into his eyes, and let it drip heavily onto his feet. He closed his blue eyes, squeezing the water out of his eyes. He opened them again to locate the soap. John turned around when he heard the glass door slide open. Dave stood there, naked and slightly blurry. He stepped in, closing the glass door behind him. 

“You didn’t invite him in.” Dave said softly, stepping into the water stream. John took a step out of the water.  
“You were on the phone,” John mumbled, getting some mint-scented soap on his hands. 

Dave’s arms curled around his middle, pulling him closer. “Sorry.” He bent down, nuzzling behind his ear. Dave nosed John’s collar (Dirk had bought a waterproof one). “I still would’ve come in.”  
John nodded. Dave seemed to be apologising a lot lately. “If it’s important, then it’s important to address, and you don’t have to shower with me.” 

Dave’s wet hands roamed around John’s equally wet body, one hand going up, the other going down. “Bro told me you haven’t been eating as much as you usually do.”  
Damn Bro and his ninja observations. 

John tipped his head back onto Dave’s chest. “I haven’t been hungry.”   
“You nearing your heat?” one hand circled a nipple. “That could be it.”  
John shook his head, leaning into the touch. He thought that Dave had memorised his heat pattern. “Still two months away.”  
“Oh, right,” Dave kissed his forehead. “Sorry, I’ve been busy, I just forgot your pattern for a second.” 

Another apology.  
“S’alright,” John told him. “So you’re going to be helping Karkat out for a bit?”  
“Yeah,” he said, pulling them both back into the water. “I’ll be over at his place a lot more.”  
John shrugged. “Yeah, okay. I don’t mind.” 

Dave leant up and got some soap, starting to wash John, then himself. “We’re going to waste water if we continue talking like this.” He rinsed them off, turning off the shower water. He took the red towel, and John took the white one. They used to playfully argue about whose towel is whose because John used to use a red one. John began to sry himself off. He wondered if Dave was distancing himself like Dirk. Dave hadn’t kissed him on the lips in a while, and he had been busy with other stuff. Or maybe they were just settling down into a normal routine. It was probably the latter because Dave had apologised for being busy. 

 

Over the next few days, John became almost painfully aware that Dirk and Dave were never home. Dave was at Karkat’s place almost everyday, and every other night. Dirk was going to the city every day, leaving early and coming home for dinner. John began to sit in front of the tv everyday and wait for Dave to come home, if he ever did. He began to start jogging every day, not wanting to always be home with Bro. Bro was nice, but in his own way. Besides, the sound of the sewing machine could sometimes be too much. Days turned into weeks, and everything was the same. Dave would be at Karkat’s, Dirk would be in the city, and John would be jogging. Bro would sometimes be at John’s dad’s house, and John would be alone in the complex. Most nights he showered alone, and he knew that Dave would be as well. 

 

John was busy making himself and Bro dinner. He wasn’t the best cook, but Bro was even worse than him, and no one can stuff up pasta, right? Dirk had sent them a message saying that he was going to have some dinner at the city. Dave was probably spending the night at Karkat’s place, so it was just him and Bro. He had picked up the ingredients when he was out jogging. John put the pasta into the boiling water, going then to heat up the sauce. The sauce was store-bought, because John figured it was easier and Bro probably couldn’t tell the difference. John figured that he should probably get a job to help out the Striders because Dave was using his money to help Karkat. He had learnt why they were so rich though, because he figured out what Bro’s official job was. John knew that what he could earn wouldn’t affect anything but himself. He felt like he was just staying around and leeching off of them. 

John finished heating the sauce, and he drained the water from the pasta. He served it in two bowls, giving Bro more pasta. His heat was in about a month, and he could almost feel that it was going to be a bad one. He didn’t feel hungry most of the time, and he blamed it on his upcoming heat.  
“Bro! It’s ready!” John called out. 

“Bring it to my room,” came the reply. 

John sighed. At least Bro wouldn’t see that he had the bigger serve. John bought the pasta to Bro, who was waiting at the door. He never let anyone come into his room. Bro gave him a gruff ‘thanks’, then went back into his room. John took his own bowl and sat down in front of the tv. A family movie was on, but John changed the channel to a cooking channel. Maybe he could be like The Sims and absorb knowledge about cooking. John began to eat, watching the cook in the middle of making stir-fry. It looked easy enough. Maybe he’ll try it sometime. Dave liked stir-fry, and Dirk might try it if John was the one who made it. John lifted his head when he heard the door open. He put down the bowl. Dave. 

“Dave!” John grinned. Dave gave him a half-smile. “I didn’t think you’d be back tonight! Welcome home!” John was about to stand up, when he saw Karkat behind him. 

“Welcome home?” Karkat repeated. “Dave, you haven’t told him?”   
“Told me what?” John looked from Dave to Karkat.  
“I told you that I was going to,” Dave said to Karkat. 

“You said that a few weeks ago!” 

John was confused, his grin slowly melting. “Tell me what?”  
Dave looked at him slowly. “Uh, I’ve, uh, actually.” his voice tone was all nerves. “Karkat’s kid is um, mine.” 

John blinked a few times, processing what Dave had just said. Something suddenly clicked in his mind. “You had sex with Karkat?”   
Dave nodded. “Before you and I bonded…”  
“Oh.” So that meant Dave was going to be a father. John didn’t mind, it might be cool to be this one big family together. If he and Dave got married, John would be a stepfather! That would be exciting!  
“We’ve been together for the past month…” Dave then said. “As in… a couple.” 

John froze. 

The tight feeling from a few weeks ago returned, and it was worse. It constricted John and almost stopped him from breathing. He tried to swallow, but his throat was dry and it felt like he had just dry-swallowed a pill. The lump that formed in his throat seemed to stay there. “You’ve been cheating on me?” 

Dave reluctantly nodded, Karkat following his action. John couldn’t understand. He had given Dave everything, right? Was it because he got bored? Maybe John did something wrong to deserve it. Was it how he looked? Was he tok fat or something? What if John hadn’t eaten so much? A million thoughts ran through his mind, each becoming worse every second. With every passing second, John was convinced it was his fault. There was silence as hot, wet tears started to drip down his face, leaving a burning trail. Karkat eventually pulled Dave away, the two exiting the complex. John blinked harder, the food in his stomach rolling around. Rose had said that you couldn’t break a bond with an omega. Or was that his dad? John suddenly felt his stomach roll over, and he rushed to the bathroom and promptly started to throw up. Dave hadn’t been showering alone, John though, Dave had his movie nights with someone else. At one stage, Bro came in to work out what the coughing had been, but he had left quickly, leaving a glass of water in his place. How could he not have seen what was going on? Did Dave really just leave him? He began to completely empty his stomach with each lurching thought. John rinsed his mouth out with the water Bro had left for him, flushing the toilet. He stood up shakily and went to wash his face. John looked at himself. No wonder Dave didn’t want him. Look how tan he was. Karkat was pale. Most people preferred paler partners, and John knew that from past experience. John didn’t understand, and his mind was running wild. John walked out of the bathroom to Dave’s room, pausing. He didn’t want to sleep there. John walked out, laying on the couch and grabbing his phone, texting Rose. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bluuuuuuhhhh, AO3 is ruining my usual typing format because I use Pages, and I'm too lazy to fix it all, so please just cope with it for the moment.  
> I also added that fact that Karkat is pregnant, because my friend discovered this story, and she was pissed that I paired Bro/Dad and Dirk/John together, and I'm not sure how pissed she'll be when she figured out that Karkat is pregnant! I needed a legitimate reason for Dave to leave John, so he's not as much of an asshole.  
> In other news, I'll be away for a week, which explains this extra-long chapter.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, I'm back. And with a new laptop! Don't worry though, everything has been retrieved off of my old hard drive and is on my new laptop.

EB: rose, dave cheated on me.  
TT: Oh? He has told you finally?  
EB: what do you mean by that?  
TT: I didn’t suspect that he would tel you tonight. I always thought he would admit it earlier. Though, he can be somewhat of a coward.  
EB: you knew?!  
TT: Of course I did. It was obvious. Besides, I could smell Karkat on him. You couldn’t because you bonded with Dave. If that was his true intention for bonding with you, I have to applaud him for that fool-proof plan, even if he hadn’t bet on third party sources telling on him.  
EB: i’m going to ignore what you just said. but i thought he couldn’t leave me because i’m an omega????????  
TT: Being unable to break a bond does not disqualify the chances of cheating. The bond is still there, of course, but Dave isn’t.  
EB: was it because i’m ugly?  
TT: He did not cheat on you because of your appearance, to some extent.  
EB: so it was because i’m ugly.  
EB: why didn’t you tell me?  
TT: Because you were happy. Also, you are not ugly. David had reasons of his own.  
EB: at least my night can’t get any worse.  
TT: Why don’t you come to the city for a few hours? You can come to the bar and socialise. I could even ask Roxy to play matchmaker to help you find another mate.  
EB: i’ve got dirk, i’ll be fine.  
TT: Spending time alone in this situation isn’t the best solution. I’ll even drive.  
EB: i’m not alone, i’ve got bro.  
TT: I’ll be there in ten minutes. Be ready. 

The drive to the city wasn't too enjoyable. Roxy never stopped asking questions about what happened with Dave, and Rose kept scolding her from the wheel. John had answered every question politely, and even he could hear his voice had a somewhat hollow tone to it. Rose pulled up to a quiet-looking bar, and parked smoothly.  
“We’ll be meeting with some friends,” Rose told him. “Of course, I invited some of your friends as well, John.”  
“And my girlfriends!” Roxy squealed excitedly, hopping out of the car. The two remaining watched as Roxy disappeared inside the bar.  
Rose turned to face John. “I’m sorry that Dave didn’t tell you sooner.”  
John shrugged. He didn’t know what to say. Who would?  
“I had prompted him to tell you the minute he first started.”  
“Why did he cheat?”  
Rose paused, clearly wondering if she should tell him. “He didn’t want to ruin the friendship he had between you and him. You were just a really good friend whom he didn’t want to reject.”  
“So he didn’t want me at all.” John sighed, the tight feeling in his chest returning.  
“Hohn. Come one. Let’s go in.” Rose undid her seatbelt and got out of the car gracefully. John followed her, with the grace of a potato.  
There were only a handful of people in the bar. Most were at the counter, talking to the person beside them. Rose went over to a small group at a circular table, some of them John recognised instantly. Jade was there, and so was Calliope and Jane. Roxy was between the two, ordering drinks. Those must be her girlfriends. John sat down next to Jade, who gave him a crushing hug.  “How’ve you been?” Jade asked him, still hugging him tightly.  
John paused. “Actually, it’s been okay.”   “Okay? Just okay?” Jade asked in disbelief.  “He’s been through a rough patch.” Rose told her. “Adjusting.”  
Jade let go of him. “Oh? I guess so.”  
John silently thanked Rose for the quick save. If Rose had not played the hero, John would be stuck trying to avoid and dodge questions, and he knew that was impossible when it came to Jade.  
“Who’re we waiting for?” Roxy suddenly asked, pausing her attempts to steal Jane’s drink.  
“Dirk and Jake,” Rose replied. “They will be arriving shortly.”  
“No Davey?” Rose shook her head at her older sister. “Hey Callie, where’s your brother?”  
“He’s in the bathroom,” Calliope said. “I didn’t want to bring him, but he insisted. Told me he’d go home with a woman he would surely meet.” She had laced the last sentence with obvious sarcasm.  
Roxy quickly looked at John. “He’s pretty handsome though, isn’t he?” She had announced this loudly, making Rose raise an eyebrow: ‘really?’.  
“That doesn’t excuse his bad behaviour,” Jane told her.  
Roxy shrugged. “So what? He’s a business man, he’s almost thirty and can support himself, and he’s single.”  
“Please don’t mention his business.” Rose told her firmly. “And don’t go trying to hook up John with Caliborn.”  
“Who’s John?”  
John looked up from the table at the sound of the new voice. He had zoned out on most of the conversation. The man, John assumed he was Caliborn, resembled Calliope, and he figured they were twins. Caliborn slid into the seat next to Jade.  
“How long does it take for you to go to the bathroom?” Jade turned to him. “It’s been ten minutes.”  
“Sorry, puppy, I had some business to do in there.” Caliborn petted her head, then pulled out a silver flask.  
Jade wrinkled her nose. “I know what that means, and I don’t want to hear anymore of it!”  
John went back to looking at the table. His mind travelled back to the drama show he had watched a few weeks ago. He was Todd. He was the oblivious, dense character who didn’t know his mate was cheating on him. A thought struck him. Maybe it was the tattoo that made Dave want to cheat! After all, Dave had been opposed to the idea, and was distracted when John showed him it. If he were to get rid of it, maybe Dave would come back. Then again, tattoo removals were expensive, and Dirk paid for it, and it had only been two months. Two months and John was already regretting it. The rest of the group was talking animately as John was deep in thought. The chatter melted into background noise as John kept thinking. Was the tattoo the reason that Rose had mentioned earlier? John stood up.  
“Where’re you going?” Jade asked. The chatter reverted back into focus and John almost winced at the volume.  
“Bathroom.”  Jade pointed the way, and went back to talking with Rose about the laws on guns and big dogs.  
John entered the men’s bathroom and when he found others in there, he decided to go into the disabled bathroom. He locked the door and faced the mirror. He looked empty. He sure felt empty. Looking back on it, maybe he let Dave off too easy. He should’ve yelled at Dave. He should’ve cried, or begged him to come back. Not just let him walk out. At first, John had just thought that Dave had sex with Karkat before he had gotten into the picture. John would’ve been fine with that! The whole situation could have turned out great, like a big happy family, but Dave just had to admit that he was cheating. Still, John couldn’t hate Dave. After all, they had been friends for ages!  
“Oh.” John thought back to what Rose had said, about Dave not wanting to reject him. “Did I force him into a relationship with me?” John hit himself on the forehead, hard. So that was why Dave cheated! Or not. Bluh! Maybe he’ll never truly know. Dave cheated, and that was it. end of story. No use dwelling on things or regretting actions. John lifted up his shirt, turning around so he could see the tattoo in the small mirror. Speaking of regrets, the ink cloud didn’t seem so carefree anymore. John had gotten it because it had reminded him of that time where Dave showed him the photos. What if Dave had taken Karkat to that special place as well? John tried to fight the jealousy whilst beginning to glare at the cloud. Now it just reminded him of that Dave and Karkat, and Karkat and Dave, etching that horrid memory into his skin and mind. Stop thinking like this! Karkat wasn’t to blame, it was Dave’s fault! Without thinking, John dragged his nails through the cloud quickly. Almost instantly, thin pink lines appeared on the ink. The sudden impulsive action seemed to help lift all the tension he was holding in him, and he let out a relaxed breath. He repeated the action over and over, watching the pink lines turn into a dark, scratchy mess. John’s breathing had quickened, and when he finally stopped, he saw traces of blood.  
“Shit…” John bit his lower lip, getting some paper towels and pressing them to the small of his back. There wasn’t much of the blood, but John decided to stop. He pulled his shirt back down and put the slightly bloodied paper towels into the bin. He took another look at himself in the mirror, running his hands through his hair, trying to look presentable. Trying to look like he hadn’t just angrily scratched himself to the point of bleeding. John sighed, then unlocked the door and went back to the table.  
“What’s up with men taking ten minutes in the bathroom?” Jade asked when she saw John. John winced slightly as he slid into the seat next to her.  
“We almost got Dirk to look for you, make sure you didn’t drown.” Roxy joked, gesturing at Dirk and Jake, who must’ve arrived while John was in the bathroom.  “Where were you?” Caliborn peered over Jade’s head. “I went to look for you instead, but I didn’t see you in the bathroom.”  
John shrugged. “I needed privacy.” Why didn’t Dirk go? He was in there for ten minutes, but Dirk, his mate, didn’t bother looking, and let Caliborn look instead. John’s mind was still a jumbled mess, so he didn’t care to dwell on that thought.  
“John’s in a bit of a fragile state, so I implore you not to damage him further,” Rose told Caliborn.  
Not fragile, John corrected silently. “I’m just not feeling well.”  
“Do you need to go home?” Caliborn asked. “I could drive you home.”  
John shook his head. “No, it’s okay. You can stay here. I can get a taxi or something.” He almost hoped that Dirk would offer to take him home, but of course he didn’t. Besides, Dirk had only just got here, and a taxi would be fine. John got up, said his goodbyes, and went to stand outside and call a taxi. 

Twenty minutes later, John was back at the Strider household. He went to have a shower, only briefly looking at the still-dark mess on his back, and remembering that he’ll be showering alone for a while from now on. After this shower, he decided that he couldn’t sleep in Dave’s bed, and Dirk might be not-so-chill if he found John in this bed. So John decided to sleep on the couch in the living room. He used the pillows that were already there, and the blanket that was always draped across the back. John slept facing the couch back, to make sure his back didn’t touch anything. The couch wasn’t the comfiest, but he soon fell asleep. 

“John?”  
He opened his eyes, slowly blinking away the blurriness. As he put on his glasses, the sharpened figure of Dirk appeared. “Mm?”  
Dirk was holding a plate with a small stack of pancakes on it. “Why were you sleeping on the couch?” He handed the plate to John.  
John sat up. “I was tired, so I just lay down and fell asleep.” He lied, looking at the plate he had just received. Dirk sat next to him and turned on the tv. It was a re-run of the drama show John had been watching. He leant over and changed the channel to Adventure Time.  
“Yo, so Rolal told me what happened. I should’ve told you.”  
“Wait, you knew?” John looked at Dirk.  
“Yeah, I could smell him.” Dirk shrugged. “It was weird because I kept expecting this girly scent, but all I could smell was short angry pheromones.”  
“Why did everyone else know expect for me?” John grumbled, picking at the pancakes with a fork.  
“Because you’re oblivious.” he told him.  
“Are we still together?” John asked him, keeping his eyes on the food in front of him.  
Dirk hummed. “Dunno. I mean, you’re a great kid-” kid? “-but it was drunken impulses that made me want to have you, to get a rise out of Dave.”  
John let out a small sigh. “Oh.” Wow. What an asshole. He could’ve told him he wasn’t interested before John got emotionally attached to him. “So that Caliborn guy last night…” John mentioned experimentally, hoping to see if Dirk got a bit protective. Not that he was expecting anything.  
“What about him?”  
“Jane mentioned something about bad behaviour.”  
Dirk was fully engrossed in the cartoon. “Yeah, he’s been in prison for a few reasons, and he runs a brothel on the outskirts of the city. Why do you ask?”  
“Oh, well, Roxy tried to hook us up together.”  
Dirk shrugged. “Do you have the hots for him?”   John was almost speechless. It actually seemed that he was encouraging John to go out with Caliborn. “You just listed all these terrible things, and you’re still basically telling me to go for it.”  
Dirk shrugged again. “I’m not your mother, I’m your friend’s brother. Plus, he might give you a job if you two bond or some shit.”  
John’s chest went funny again. Did Dirk subtly tell him to get a mate? Also, ‘friend’s brother’? Not mate? “Fine. Whatever. I’ll go ask Roxy for his number.”  
“He went to prison for rape and drugs.” Dirk added. “You sure?”  
“Yeah, well, I’m not going to listen to advice from my friend’s brother any time soon.” John said, almost bitterly.  
“Whatever, go out with a rapist, see if I care. I’m not stopping you.”  
John felt like he needed to add more salt. “You just stay there and watch your stupid Japanese cartoons for kids, maybe invite Jake over, I’ve seen you two get cosy together more than once.”  
Dirk stood up, turning to face John. Maybe he had gone too far with the anime mockery. “Leave. You’re not useful here anymore.” John dropped the plate. That was an order. He promptly stood up, turning away from Dirk and left the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I'm only planning on writing only two more chapters, and then it's finished.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I'm so sorry if the formatting is horrible because I use Pages, but I've gone over it a few times and hopefully fixed up everything!   
> Also! Last chapter! I know I said there would be two chapters, but I've added them together and edited it.

“Where’s John?” Bro asked Dirk, going to the fridge and pulling out a carton of milk.   
“He’s on a date with Caliborn.” Dirk replied, pausing ToraDora.   
“Isn’t that guy Callie’s twin brother? The dude who rapes people?” Bro raised both of his eyebrows, after he took a swig of milk from the carton. “His dad is going to kill me.”   
Dirk shrugged. “Not my problem. Also, can you stop drinking straight from there?”   
 “I can’t fucking drink it gay if that’s what you’re implying I should do.” Bro put it back in the fridge with a scoff. “Fine, I’ll put my name on it, whatever. Now back to the problem about John.”   
“What of it?”   
“He’s your mate. You can’t just let another guy take him.” Bro leant against the counter. “Maybe you could’ve shared the blame with Dave, if he hadn’t cheated of course. John is your responsibility, y’know.”   
Dirk leant his head back, looking at the ceiling. “He can go out with anyone he likes, whatever. My decision. Are you happy now?”   
“No. Was that even a question?” Bro kept his voice level. “Caliborn is bad news. I thought you knew this.”   
“It’s fine, he ain’t that bad. Been out of prison for a few years now.”   
“You’re going to regret it when something happens.” he warned Dirk.   
Dirk shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, because John isn’t even my mate.”   
In a flash, Bro was in front of Dirk, blocking the tv. “He’s just a fling? Is that it? A two-month fling? Someone your drunken ass took because you wanted to piss off your younger brother?” Dirk tried to move his head to look at the tv. “I didn’t raise you to run away from problems. Fucking face it, because he’s your mate.” Bro was then gone. He probably was in his room.   
Dirk resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Just because he dominated someone didn’t mean he was going to stay with said someone. Pfft, they haven’t even bonded yet, and they probably never will, so why was Bro acting like John was his responsibility? Sure, if John did get traumatised for life because Caliborn raped him, Dirk would pay for therapy. Whatever. That was about it. Pay the fees, get out of John’s life. Dirk pressed ‘play’ and all thoughts of John soon disappeared from his mind. 

John came back a few hours later, and Dirk turned to face him. John didn’t have his collar on.   
“Where’s your collar?”  The omega stopped by the kitchen counter; he had almost jumped at the sound of the harsh, low voice. “Oh. Caliborn took it off for me.” His voice was slightly quivering.   
“Where is it?” Dirk questioned him, pausing the last episode of ToraDora.   
“Probably in the trash, I don’t know.”  Dirk frowned. “That was expensive. Real leather, padded, and waterproof. Silver name tag as well.”   
“It was also highly unnecessary.” John replied. “Wasn’t like you owned me or something. Wow, what a horrifying and ridiculous thought.” He opened the cupboard, getting out a glass.   
“Egbert, where were you?”   
Both heads turned to the sound of Bro’s voice, who had decided to make an appearance by the hall door.   
“I was on a date,” John pulled out a bottle of soda from the fridge, and pouring some into the glass.   
“You’re not going on another date with him. I heard who it was from Dirk.”   
Dirk decided to ignore the bitter tone that was placed on his name.   
“I am. He’s not that bad. He helped me find a job.” John returned the bottle to the fridge door.   
Bro frowned slightly. “Please tell me you’re not becoming a prostitute and working at his brothel, because we can support you with money and emotions plenty.”    
Another sharp jab on the word ‘emotions’; it was aimed again at Dirk.   
“Half-true.” John picked up the glass. “With the job and the whole ‘money and emotions’ thing. I’m just going to be the guy at the counter. Caliborn doesn’t want me to be touched by other people.” He took a sip.   
“His choice.” Dirk shrugged. “I’m a bit pissed about the collar though.”  Bro turned sharply to look at Dirk, then at John. “Why do you even need a job? You’ll be going to college in a few weeks, Dirk will pay. He’s going to the richest mate you’ll ever be with.”   
Dirk resisted saying ‘I’m not fucking paying his schooling shit’ out loud.   
“I need a job because someone,” John shot a glare at Dirk. “said I was useless, so I should get a job to make myself not so useless. Although, I shouldn’t listen to my friend’s brother.” The last two words were laced with poison.   
“I said those two words one time!” Dirk exclaimed, getting tired of his bullshit.   
Bro looked at Dirk, then back at John, then retuning his gaze to Dirk. “You two are having an argument? Why?”    
“Because,” Dirk turned to face the two. “John isn’t my mate. So what, I’ve dominated him. I’ve done that to plenty of guys. Doesn’t mean I stay with him. Why do you want me to stay with him? So you can get into the good books with his dad?”   
Bro glanced at John, who was holding the glass tightly.   
“Then why did you act like I was your mate?” John wanted to know.   
“I guess we were? But, no offence, I got bored of you.” Dirk simply said. “You were just… there. The only real reason I dominated you was because you look like Jake.”    
John’s mind brought up flashes of Jake. He gripped the glass tightly.   
“Dirk.” Bro warned.   
“And you didn’t even realise when Dave was going behind your weak-ass back,” Dirk continued, ignoring Bro and only focusing his gaze on John, who was growing paler by the second. “I mean, last night you pretended to be interested in Caliborn. You’re so transparent that even a kid could work out what you’re up to.”    
John placed the glass on the counter with shaky hands.   
“You only stay here because Dave and I used to be your mate. Why do you stay?”   
John looked like he was going to either say something or cry.   
“Go back to your dad’s house and have him take care of you.”    
“No!” John growled. It was a weak growl, but neither Strider had heard him growl before. “If you want me out, I’ll stay at Caliborn’s instead!”   
“John, you are not staying with him.” Bro started to say, but John shoved past him. The two remaining heard a door slam shut.   
“Go talk to him.” Bro instantly told Dirk.  
“No.”  “I’m going to cancel all of your credit cards if you don’t.”   
Dirk stood up. “Fine. Whatever.”    
“Did you mean what you said?” Bro asked him when he walked past.   
“Most of it.” Dirk replied, wandering down the hallway. He entered each room, then entering Dave’s. The bathroom door was shut, but he saw light from under the door, so John must be in there. Dirk stood outside the door for a minute, not knowing what he was going to say, He couldn’t say that he really thought because that’s going to end up horribly. If he was to be honest with himself, he actually really minded if John wanted to date Caliborn. Dirk actually cared about John, even if he did look very similar to Jake. In any case, he was only mad because John dissed anime and threw away the collar. They were stupid reasons because he knew that John did like anime, and he could always buy a new collar, no matter how costly that shit was. It wasn’t as though John was useless, Dirk was just pissed that Dave even thought of cheating on his best friend since preschool. He couldn’t project his anger on Dave or Bro, so he just found John as a figure to do so. Anyway, Dirk won’t ever tell John this. It’s all a secret. He wasn’t very social, and he was often told that this was why his previous relationship didnt’ work out with Jake. Dirk pushed the door open, and his mouth almost opened in shock. And no, it wasn’t because John was shirtless with his back to him, it was because of what was on his back. Last time he checked, which was a few weeks ago probably, there was a cloud on his back. Now Dirk wasn’t even sure what it was. All he could see was a jumbled mess of shallow scratches. Normally Dirk would think that this was because John had sex with someone, namely Caliborn; all evidence pointed that way a few minutes ago, but why would Caliborn scratch in one specific spot? Besides, John was the scratcher. Dave used to always walk around shirtless after one night, scratches on his back and John beside him, apologising. Also, John didn’t have Caliborn’s smokey scent on him, so sex was out of the question. So what happened?   
John spotted Dirk in the mirror, turning around. His eyes were wide, almost scared. There was a long silence before Dirk quickly shut the door. What the hell happened?, Dirk thought, his hand still on the door handle. If he left John in here, Bro will cancel all of his credit cards and he only had five dollars in his wallet. If only it was strifing instead of cancelling credit cards, but ‘Daddy Egbert doesn’t like that shit’ apparently, so strifing had to go. Dirk decided to stay, because without his credit cards, he was lost and couldn’t buy any alcohol. Besides, he wanted to know what the fuck was up with John’s back. Dirk opened the door again, and John had his shirt back on, pressed up against the counter.   
“What do you want?” John asked, almost warily.   
Dirk locked the door behind him. “Just wanna see what’s up with your back, is all.” He tried to keep his voice soothing.   
“Let me shower in peace.” John shot back, but after a second, lifted his shirt over his head. He turned around, and Dirk stepped closer.   
“What happened?” Dirk decided not to touch the mess on his back.    
“Nothing. I just got mad at myself, that’s all.” John shrugged, keeping his voice just level.   
“So you thought that ruining your back was a good idea?” None of the scratches were serious, but some looked worse than other.   
“I didn’t want the cloud.” John said, his level voice raising. “So I wanted to see if it would come off.”   
 Somehow, ‘that’s not how ink tattoos work’, wasn’t the best thing to say.   
“You seemed pretty happy when you got it though.”  John kept his eyes on the sink in front of him. “I thought Dave would come back if the tattoo was gone.” His level voice was deteriorating. “Because he didn’t like it.”    
Dirk frowned. “So you just decided to ruin it and hurt yourself? If Dave doesn’t like it, he needs to grow up because you sure like it.”   
“What if he came back though?” John’s voice was quivering. “B-because the tattoo was gone?”   
Dirk moved away from John to sift through the cabinets. “Dave’s not coming back. He’s going to be raising a nasty lil kid soon enough.”   
 John was silent, nodding.   
“And anyway, let’s not talk about that. How was your date?”   
“Didn’t have one.”    
“What with Caliborn?” Dirk was feeling slightly confused, still looking through the cabinets. How many bottles of conditioner did Dave really need?    
“Nah. I spent the day with Rose and Kanaya. When Kanaya went to get lunch, Rose told me that you don’t even need to break bonds. It’s the same as any other pairing. Just a superstitious tale, she said.” John’s voice slowly went back to normal. “She also said that you’re a jerk for saying that I smell like Dave, because scents and pheromones build up on each other after bonding. That’s why you smell like orange soda and cinnamon, because Jake smells like cinnamon.  
“Well aren’t you having a great time with Rosie, discussing all of my secrets.”   
“But why don’t you smell like other things?”  Dirk sighed. “Because Jake and I bonded more than once and we’ve dated on and off, and we still are. Also, I don’t bond with everyone I’m in a relationship with. I’m a picky man. Also, why the fuck are there so many conditioner bottles?”    
“Dave liked his hair fluffy.”   
“Yeah, no shit.” Dirk finally found a first-aid kid. “Am I forgiven now?”    
John lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I guess so?”   
“Or should I just wait a little bit?” He started to work on John’s back.    
“I think you should wait a while, make up for everything.”    
“Yeah, I’ve done a lot of stupid things.”    
There was a drawn out silence as Dirk finished up on John’s back.    
“Can you drive me places to make up for everything?” John asked, listening to Dirk putting the kit back into the shelf and standing up.   
“I guess I can.” Dirk turned John around to face him. “No scratching, okay? The cloud has nothing to do with Dave. Also, Porrim will be pissed if she finds out, so no telling Kanaya about this either because she’ll tell on us.”   
John nodded.  “I also don’t want you thinking that the cloud will bring back Dave. It’s pretty, but it’s not a magical glow cloud that we have to hail in fear of being crushed by a dead lion.” Dirk told him. “Now, since I’m going to be your designated driver for a while, why don’t we going to a club tonight?”   
 John gave him a look. “Why tonight?”   
 “I promised Jake I’d be there.” Dirk replied, giving John back his shirt. “No shower tonight. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll see how it looks.”   
John pulled on his shirt gently. “Jake?”    
“Yeah, Jake.” Dirk nodded. “Now c’mon, you and I need to get changed into something nicer.”    
John nodded, his mind back into overdrive. Dirk did say that he wasn’t his mate, and he also said that he had been dating Jake on and off. 

The club was still as bright and loud as John remembered. It was packed, just like last time. Dirk pulled John through the crowds, John wincing every time someone bumped into his back. It didn’t hurt as much as it used to, but it had a small, dull, pain. Dirk pulled John to the bar, sitting down and dragging John next to him.    
“What do you want to drink?”    
“I’m not twenty-one yet,” John told him.   
He shrugged. “Didn’t answer my question.”   
“Just get me water.”    
Dirk nodded, ordering the drinks. “Jake’ll be here soon.”   
 John just stared at the bar in front of him, pretending that he couldn’t hear him over the loud music. The drinks arrived shortly, and the bartender and Dirk seemed to be on good terms. Maybe this is where Dirk was coming every night. With Jake, John finished off silently to himself. John and Dirk sat there quietly, drinking. Dirk had gotten an orange alcoholic drink, and it looked familiar. Maybe because John associated Dirk with that colour for some reason. The heavy beat of the music flooded his ears, and his head started hurting. He had a few more sips of the cold water, wondering how people could do this all the time. John turned his head around when he saw Jake come up behind Dirk.   
“Hello, Dirk!” he said, and John could definitely hear him over the music. “I see you’ve brought John along as well!”   
Dirk nodded, lifting his head to look up at Jake. Instantly, Jake brought his head down to nuzzle Dirk’s neck. John looked away. He used to do that with Dave, and Rose later told him that it was the equivalent of flirting, but more intimate and personal. Usually no one did it in public, but Jake was never one to follow public standards. It looked like Dirk wasn’t going to resist, and how could he anyway? Dirk wouldn’t stop Jake, not in those shorts the adventurer was wearing. John asked for more water and turned to face Dirk and Jake. Jake was still nuzzling Dirk’s neck, and Dirk was drinking the rest of his drink.   
“Hey, Jake?” Dirk put his glass down.   
“Mm?” Jake began brushing his lips against Dirk’s pierced ears.   
 “Y’know John’s my mate, right?” Dirk turned his head to face John, Jake stopping his actions. John suddenly felt happier than he had been in a long time, and he watched Jake back off and go into the crowd. Dirk’s hand met John’s under the bar.   
“The perks of being an omega,” Dirk leant over and whispered to John.   
“What?”   
“You can get someone wrapped around your finger in no time,” Dirk smirked. John turned to face Dirk, and Dirk pressed his lips against John’s.   
“I think I agree,” John smiled against his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowie! It's ended finally. Heck!
> 
> Anyway, how was it? Did you like it? Please comment down below if you do!


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